BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•O 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


Over  tk  Santa  Fe  Trail 


BY 

W.  B.  NAPTON. 


1905. 

FRANKUN  HUDSON  PUBLISHING  CO., 
KANSAS  CITY,  MO. 


05 

\ — 
o 
o 


Bancroft  Library 

Over  tlie  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 


I. 

CAPTAIN  "JiM  CROW"  CHILES. 

When  I  was  a  lad  of  12  years  of  age  my  father  had  a 
^  red-headed  overseer,  good-natured,  loquacious  and  fond  of 
telling  stories,  the  kind  that  suited  the  understandig  and 
tickled  the  fancy  of  a  boy.  His  stories  were  always  re- 
lated as  being  truthful  accounts  of  actual  occurrences,  al- 
though I  suspected  they  were  frequently  creatures  of  his 
own  imagination.  This  overseer,  a  Westerner  born  and  bred, 
had  driven  an  ox  wagon  in  a  train  across  the  plains  to  New 
Mexico ;  had  made  two  trips  across — in  1847  and  1848 — one 
extending  as  far  as  Chihuahua,  in  Old  Mexico.  His  obser- 
vation was  keen,  and  his  memory  unexcelled,  so  that,  years 
afterwards,  he  could  relate,  in  minute  detail,  the  events  of 
every  day's  travel,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
journey.  I  was  charmed  with  his  accounts  of  the  Indians 
and  buffalo,  wolves,  antelope  and  prairie  dogs. 

Reaching  the  age  of  18  in  1857,  with  indifferent  health, 
my  father  acquiesced  in  my  determination  to  cross  the  plains 

3 


4  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1S57. 

to  New  Mexico.  The  doctor  said  the  journey  would  benefit 
my  health.  Already  an  expert  with  a  gun  or  pistol.,  I  had 
killed  all  kinds  of  game  to  be  found  in  Missouri,  and  had 
read  Gordon  Cumming's  book  of  his  hunting  exploits  in 
South  Africa,  so  that  I  felt  as  if  nothing  less  than  killing 
big  game,  like  buffalo  and  elk,  could  gratify  my  sporting 
proclivities. 

Colonel  James  Chiles  of  "Six  Mile,"  Jackson  County, 
was  a  state  senator,  and  while  at  Jefferson  City  during 
the  session  of  the  legislature,  my  father  telling  him  of  my 
desire  to  go  out  to  Santa  Fe,  the  colonel  sent  me  an  invi- 
tation to  come  to  his  house  by  the  middle  of  April  and  go 
out  with  a  train  belonging  to  his  son.  So  in  the  early 
spring  of  1857  I  set  out  from  my  home  in  Saline  County, 
well  mounted  and  equipped  for  the  journey. 

The  spring  was  backward,  and  when  I  reached  Colonel 
Chiles's  house  in  the  middle  of  April  winter  was  still  "lin- 
gering in  the  lap  of  spring."  The  grass  was  not  good  on 
the  plains  until  the  10th  of  May.  It  was  arranged  for  me 
to  go  out  with  the  train  commanded  by  "Jim  Crow,"  a  son 
of  Colonel  Chiles. 

"Jim  Crqw"  was  then  about  twenty-five,  not  over  medi- 
um height,  but  strong,  athletic  and  wiry,  and  had  a  pretty 
well  established  reputation  as  a  fighter  among  the  frontiers- 
men. He  had  killed  a  lawyer  named  Moore,  who  lived  at 
Leavenworth,  in  the  Noland  hotel  at  Independence.  After 
the  Civil  War  he  killed  two  other  men  at  Independence, 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  5 

and  he  himself  was  eventually  killed  in  a  fight  with  the 
Independence  town  marshal.  But  I  found  "Jim  Crow" 
a,  kind  and  considerate  friend,,  jovial  and  good  natured  gen- 
erally, but  subject  to  violent  fits  of  anger,  and  when  an- 
gry, a  very  dangerous  man.  One  night  on  the  "trail,"  while 
he  and  I  v  ere  riding  some  distance  ahead  of  the  train,  amid 
the  solitude  of  the  darkness  and  the  vast  plains,  the  con- 
veis.ition  drifted  into  a  confidential  vein.  He  recalled  the 
killing  of  Moore,  saying  he  regretted  it  beyond  measure; 
that  the  affair  had  haunted  him  day  and  night;  that  he 
would  willingly  give  up  all  that  he  owned  or  expected  to 
acquire  to  be  relieved  of  the  anguish  and  trouble  and  re- 
morse the  act  had  caused  him.  But  he  was  possessed  of  the 
kind  of  courage  and  combativeneiss  which  never  suggested 
the  avoidance  of  a  fight  then  or  afterward. 

Kansas  City  was  even  then,  in  1857,  an  aspiring  town. 
For  a  month  or  two  in  the  spring  the  levee  was  covered  with 
wagons  and  teams,  and  sometimes  four  or  five  steamboats 
were  at  the  wharf  discharging  freight.  General  John  W. 
Eeid  had  recently  bought  forty  acres,  the  northwest  corner 
of  which  is  now  the  intersection  of  Broadway  and  Twelfth 
street,  for  $2,000.  The  land  was  covered  with  timber, 
which  he  cut  into  cord  wood  and  sold  to  the  steamboats  for 
about  enough  to  pay  for  the  land. 

There  were  no  streets,  and  only  one  road  from  the  levee, 
leaving  the  river  front  at  Grand  avemue,  running  obliquely 
across  to  Main  street  and  back  again  to  Grand  avenue,  in 


6  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

McGee's  addition.  Colonel  Milton  McGee  had  taken  down 
his  fences  and  laid  off  his  cornfields  into  lots. 

The  work  cattle  and  wagons  were  collected  and  a 
camp  established,  about  the  first  of  May,  on  the  high, 
rolling  prairie  near  the  Santa  Fe  trail,  three  miles 
southwest  of  Westport.  The  wagons  were  heavy,  cum- 
brous affairs  with  long  deep  beds,  covered  with  sheets  of 
heavy  cotton  cloth,  supported  by  bows.  A  man  six  feet  high 
could  stand  erect  in  one  of  them,  and  they  were  designed 
to  hold  a  load  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  pounds  of  mer- 
chandise each.  Those  in  our  train  were  made  by  Hiram 
Young,  a  free  negro  at  Independence,  and  they  were  con- 
sidered as  good  as  any  except  those  with  iron  axles.  The 
freght  consisted  of  merchandise  for  the  trade  in  New  Mex- 
ico. Two  of  the  wagons  were  loaded  with  imported  chairi- 
pagne  for  Colonel  St.  Vrain  of  Las  Vegas  and  Mora. 

There  was  a  shortage  of  good  ox  drivers  that  spring  and 
Captain  "Jim  Crow"  found  it  difficult  to  supply  the  num- 
ber he  needed.  Twenty-five  dollars  a  month  "and  found" 
were  the  wages.  One  evening,  while  we  were  lounging 
around  the  corral,  waiting  for  supper,  three  men  came  up 
on  foot,  inquiring  for  the  captain  of  the  train.  They  were 
good  looking,  well  dressed  men,  two  of  them  wearing  silk 
hats,  but  bearing  no  resemblance  to  the  ordinary  ox  driver. 
They  said  they  were  stranded  and  looking  for  work.  They 
proposed  to  Captain  Chiles  to  hire  to  him  for  drivers,  while 
they  disclaimed  any  knowledge  of  the  calling. 


"JIM  CROW"  CHILES  LAUGHED. 


8  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

"Jim  Crow"  laughed,  and  after  interrogating  them  as 
to  their  antecedents,  said  he  would  hire  them  on  probation. 
"I  will  take  you  along,"  he  said,  "and  if  I  find  you  can 
learn  to  drive  cattle  before  we  get  to  Council  Grove,  the 
last  settlement  on  the  road,  then  F  11  keep  you ;  otherwise 
not,  and  you  must  look  out  for  yourselves." 

They  were  invited  to  supper  and  assigned  to  a  mess. 
One  of  them  was  named  Whitcom.  He  hailed  from  Massa- 
chusetts and  had  never  seen  a  yoke  of  oxen  in  his  life,  but 
he  was  strong,  sturdy  and  active,  and  before  we  reached 
New  Mexico  he  was  rated  the  most  dextrous  driver  in  the 
outfit.  Moreover,  his  team  looked  better  than  any  in  the 
train  when  we  reached  the  end  of  our  journey.  Ten  years 
ago  Vliitcom  was  living  in  Cheyenne,  and  was  one  of  the 
wealthiest  cattle  raisers  in  the  state  of  Wyoming. 

Another  of  the  three  hailed  from  Cincinnati.  He  wore 
a  threadbare  suit  of  broadcloth  and  a  "plug"  hat,  and  was 
tall,  angular,  awkward,  slip-shod  and  -slouchy  in  appearance. 
He  had  been  employed  in  his  father's  banking  house  in 
Cincinnati,  and  was  accomplished  in  penmanship  and  a 
good  accountant;  but  he  proved  to  be  utterly  unfit  for  an 
ox  driver.  He  could  not  hold  his  own  among  his  rough 
companions,  and  became  the  object  of  their  jeers  and  de- 
rision. By  unanimous  consent  he  was  given  the  name  of 
"Skeesicks,"  and  by  this  name  he  was  known  ever 
afterwards. 

The  third  of  the  trio  proved  to  be  a  fairly  good  driver, 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  9 

and  is  now  a  prosperous  merchant  in  the  state  of  Montana. 

Among  the  drivers  was  a  young  Mexican,  *  Juan,  who 
had  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Chiles  brothers  for  years. 
Through  him  we  were  enabled  to  converse  with  the  Kiowas 
and  Comanches  when  we  reached  them.  Many  of  the  In- 
idians  could  speak  or  understand  Spanish,  but  could  not  un- 
derstand a  word  of  English.  We  had  men  among  the 
teamsters  from  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Arkansas  and  Texas. 
They  soon  became  known  and  answered  to  the  name  of  their 
own  state.  "Tennessee"  and  "Texas"  prided  themselves  on 
the  size  and  weight  of  their  whips,  and  the  loudness  of  the 
noise  they  could  make  in  popping  them. 

Young  Keece,  from  Missouri,  went  out  with  the  train 
for  his  health.  He  had  consumption  and  hoped  the  journey 
over  the  plains  would  be  of  benefit  to  him.  He  was  very 
tall,  being  six  feet  four  inches,  of  large  bone  and  frame, 
but  thin  as  a  huge  skeleton,  and  had  allowed  his  heavy  black 
hair  to  grow  until  it  hung  below  his  shoulders.  He  was 
well  of  %o  far  as  property  was  concerned,  and  rode  a 
splendid  aapple  gray  horse,  muscular,  tough  and  graceful, 
with  handsome  mane  and  tail,  which  could  fairly  fly  over 
the  prairie. 


10  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

II. 

IN  CAMP,  SOUTH  OF  WESTPORT. 

In  the  camp,  three  miles  southwest  of  Westport,  we  were 
detained  for  a  fortnight  or  more,  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
our  freight  at  Kansas  City.  There  were  twenty-six  wagon, 
five  yoke  of  oxen  to  each,  carrying  about  seven  thousand 
pounds  of  freight  each.  There  were  no  tents,  so  we  slept 
on  the  ground,  either  under  a  wagon  or,  if  we  preferred 
it,  the  broad  canopy  of  heaven. 

Captain  "Jim  Crow"  commanded  the  company,  with 
Eice  as  assistant  wagonmaster.  There  was  one  driver  for 
each  wagon,  and  a  boy  of  16,  of  frontier  origin  and  train- 
ing, whose  duty  it  was  to  drive  the  "cavayard"  or  loose 
cattle,  taken  along  in  case  any  of  the  teams  should  get  lame 
or  unfit  for  service.  "Jim  Crow,"  immediately  on  his  ar- 
rival at  the  camp,  gave  the  boy  the  nickname  of  "Little 
Breeches,"  suggested  by  his  very  tight-fitting  trousers,  and 
the  name,  abbreviated  to  "Little  Breech,"  stuck  to  him. 

While  encamped  below  Westport  I  was  fortunate  in  pur- 
chasing a  first  rate  "buffalo  horse,"  a  California  "lass  horse," 
that  had  been  brought  across  the  plains  the  previous  year. 
He  proved  his  excellence  afterward,  was  very  fast  and  would 
run  up  so  close  to  a  buffalo  that  I  could  sometimes  touch 
him  with  the  pistol  point. 

Camped  in  our  vicinity  were  several  corrals  of  trains 
belonging  to  Mexican  merchants,  who  used  mules  instead 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  11 

of  oxen,  and  had  lately  come  up  from  New  Mexico.  These 
Mexicans  subsisted  altogether  on  taos  (unbolted)  flour,  and 
dried  buffalo  meat,  while  our  mess  wagon  was  filled  with 
side  bacon,  flour,  coffee,  sugar,  beans  and  pickles. 

I  soon  got  on  fair  terms  of  acquaintance  with  the  mas- 
ter of  one  of  theser  Spanish  trains.  He  was  a  successful 
buffalo  hunter,  but  I  was  surprised  to  find  he  used  a  spear 
for  killing  them,  instead  of  a  pistol.  When  a  buffalo  was 
found  at  a  distance  from  the  road  or  camp  he  would  goad 
the  animal,  until  so  enraged,  it  would  turn  upon  and  fol- 
low him,  and  in  this  manner  he  would  geit  the  game  to  a 
more  convenient  place  for  butchering,  before  finally  dis- 
patching it. 

There  were  no  farms  fenced  up  in  sight  of  our  camp  at 
that  time,  but  the  prairie  was  dotted  with  the  houses  of 
the  "squatter  sovereigns,"  who  were  folding  down"  claims. 

On  the  10th  day  of  June  we  yoked  up  and  started  on 
the  long  journey.  At  the  outset  everybody  about  the  train, 
from  the  captain  to  the  cavayard  driver,  was  filled  with  good 
humor.  The  weather  was  perf  ect,  the  view  of  the  apparently 
boundless  prairie  exhilarating.  The  road  having  been  sur- 
veyed and  established  by  the  government  before  the  coun- 
try was  at  all  occupied,  was  almost  as  straight  as  an  arrow 
toward  the  southwest.  The  wagonmaster  would  arouse 
the  men  before  daylight  in  the  morning  and  the  cattle 
would  be  driven  up  to  the  corral,  yoked  up  and  hitched  to 
the  wagons  by  the  time  the  cooks  could  prepare  breakfast, 


12  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail  1S57. 

a  cook  being  assigned  to  each  mess  of  six  or  eight  men. 
Some  of  the  oxen  were  not  well  broken  to  the  yoke,  and  it 
was  a  difficult  task  at  the  dim  break  of  day  for  a  green  man 
to  select  each  steer  that  belonged  to  his  team  in  the  corral, 
where  the  250  were  crowded  together  so  that  their  sides 
would  almost  touch. 

Once  on  the  road  the  drive  was  continued  for  from 
eight  to  twelve  miles,  the  stops  being  governed  by  the  con- 
venience of  camping-places,  where  grass  and  water  could 
be  found  for  the  cattle.  Familiarity  with  the  route  was 
essential  in  the  wagonmaster,  who,  riding  some  distance 
ahead,  would  select  the  camping-place,  and  when  the  train 
came  up  direct  the  formation  of  the  corral.  The  cattle 
were  immediately  unyoked  and  turned  loose,  herded  by  two 
of  the  teamsters.  Often  it  was  necessary  to  drive  the  cat- 
tle a  mile  or  more  from  the  corral  in  order  to  find  suffi- 
cient grass,  that  near  the  road  being  kept  short  by  the  in- 
coming trains  from  Mexico  and  the  outgoing  trains  ahead 
of  us. 

At  Council  Grove  there  was  a  considerable  settlement 
of  Indian  traders.  There  we  found  assembled  a  large  band 
of  Kaw  Indians,  who  had  just  relached  there  from  a  buffalo 
hunt  on  the  Arkansas.  The  Kaws  were  not  classed  as 
"wild"  Indians,  and  I  think  had  been  assigned  to  a  reserva- 
tion not  far  oft',  but  when  they  got  off  on  a  hunt  their  na- 
tive savage  inclinations  made  them  about  as  dangerous  as 
those  roaming  the  plains  at  will,  and  whose  contact  with 
the  white  man  was  much  less  frequent. 


Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857.  13 

Beyond  the  Diamond  spring  we  met  two  men  on  horse- 
back, who  were  hunting  cattle  belonging  to  a  train  then 
corralled  some  distance  ahead.  The  cattle  had  been  stam- 
peded by  Indians  in  the  night  and  they  had  lost  fifty  head. 
The  train  could  not  be  moved  without  them.  The  men  had 
been  in  search  of  them  for  two  days  and  thought  they  would 
be  compelled  to  offer  a  reward  for  them,  that  being  found 
necessary  sometimes,  along  the  border.  The  Indians  and! 
"squawmen" — white  men  married  to,  or  living  with,  Indian 
squaws — would  stampede  cattle  at  night,  drive  them  off  and 
hold  them  until  they  ascertained  that  a  reward  had  been 
offered  for  them.  Then  they  would  visit  the  corral,  learn 
with  seeming  regret  of  the  cause  of  the  detention  of  the 
train,  declare  that  they  were  well  acquainted  with  the  sur- 
rounding country  and  could  probably  find  them  and  bring 
them  in,  offering  to  perform  this  service  for  so  much  a 
head.  After  the  bargain  was  struck  the  cattle  would  be 
delivered  as  soon  as  they  could  be  driven  from  the  place  of 
their  secretion.  It  was  not  infrequent  for  a  band  of  Kaws 
to  strike  a  wagon  master  in  this  way  for  as  much  as  from 
$100  to  $500. 

Here  we  learned  that  Colonel  Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  in 
command  of  a  considerable  force,  had  moved  out  from  Fort 
Scott  against  the  Cheyennes,  who  were  on  the  warpath  up 
on  the  Eepublican  river,  in  the  western  part  of  Kansas,  but 
we  missed  seeing  the  command  until  months  later,  on  our 
homeward  journey  in  September. 


14  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

in. 

BUFFALO. 

As  we  were  drawing  near  the  buffalo  range  preparations 
were  made  for  a  chase.  The  pistols  were  freshly  loaded 
and  butcher  knives  sharpened.  One  morning  about  9  o'clock, 
on  Turkey  creek,  a  branch  of  the  Cottonwood,  we  came  in 
sight  of  buffalo,,  in  a  great  mass,  stretching  out  over  the 
prairie  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  though  the  topography 
of  the  country  enabled  us  to  see  for  several  miles  in  each 
direction.  The  prairie  in  front  of  us  was  gradually  undu- 
lating, but  offered  no  great  hindrance  io  fast  riding.  Eeece 
and  I  were  anxious  to  try  our  skill,  and  Captain  Chiles 
said  he  would  go  along  to  assist  in  butchering  and  bring- 
ing up  the  meat;  but,  as  he  was  riding  a  mule,  he  could 
not  be  expected  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  chase.  Eeece 
was  mounted  on  his  splendid  iron  gray  and  I  on  my  trained 
buffalo  horse,  each  of  us  having  a  pair  of  Coifs  navy  re- 
volvers, of  six  chambers  in  holsters. 

We  rode  slowly  until  we  got  within  three  or  four  hun- 
dred yards  of  the  edge  of  the  vast  herd.  Then  they  began 
to  run  and  we  followed,  gaining  on  them  all  the  time. 
Pressing  forward,  at  the  full  speed  of  my  horse,  I  discov- 
ered that  the  whole  band  just  in  front  of  me  were  old  bulls. 
I  was  so  anxious  to  kill  a  buffalo  that  I  began  shooting  at 
a  very  large  one,  occasionally  knocking  tufts  of  hair  off  his 
coat,  but  apparently  having  little  other  effect  However, 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  15 

after  a  lively  run  of  perhaps  a  mile  or  two  he  slackened  his 
pace,  and  at  last  stopped  still  and,  turning  about,  faced 
me.  I  fired  the  one  or  two  remaining  charges  of  my  revolv- 
ers, at  a  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty  yards,  £nd  thought  he 
gave  evidence  of  being  mortally  wounded.  After  gazing 
steadily  at  me  for  a  few  minutes  he  turned  around  and 
walked  off.  I  followed,  but  presently  he  resumed  a  gallop 
in  the  direction  the  main  herd  had  gone,  soon  disappearing 
from  view  over  a  ridge.  So  I  had  made  a  failure,  ancr 
felt  a  good  deal  put  out,  as  well  as  worn  out  by  the  fatigue 
of  fast  riding. 

Through  a  vista  between  the  clouds  of  dust  raised  by 
the  buffalo,  I  got  a  glimpse  of  Eeece.  His  horse  proved  to 
be  very  much  afraid  of  the  buffalo  and  could  not  be  urged 
close  enough  to  afford  shooting,  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, with  a  pistol.  Eeece  held  his  magnificent  horse  with 
a  rein  of  the  bridle  in  either  hand,  his  head  fronting  to- 
'wards  the  buffalo,  but  the  frightened  animal  would  turn  to 
one  side,  despite  the  best  efforts  of  his  master,  fairly  flying 
around  in  front  of  the  herd.  That  was  Eeece's  first  and  last 
attempt  to  kill  a  buffalo  on  horseback. 

I  rode  back  towards  the  train,  soon  meeting  Captain 
Chiles,  who  greeted  me  with  derisive  laughter,  but  consid- 
erately expressed  the  hope  that  I  would  have  better  success 
upon  a  second  attempt.  As  we  were  all  very  anxious  to 
get  some  fresh  meat,  he  suggested  that  I  should  lend  him 
my  horse;  that  he  would  easily  kill  one  with  a  double-barrel 


16  Over  {lie  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

shotgun,  which  he  was  carrying  in  front  on  his  saddle.  I 
readily  agreed  to  this,  and  mounting  on  my  horse,  he  put 
off  and  promptly  slew  a  fat/ well-grown  calf  that  proved 
good  eating  for  us  who  had  lived  on  bacon  for  many  days. 

That  afternoon  I  turned  my  buffalo  horse  loose,  per- 
mitting him  to  follow,  or  be  driven  along  with  the  cava- 
yard,  in  order  that  he  might  recuperate  from  the  exhaust- 
ing races  of  the  forenoon.  The  following  morning  he  was 
as  good  as  ever,  and  I  resolved  to  try  another  chase. 

Having  received  some  pertinent  instructions  from  Cap- 
tain Chiles,  as  to  the  modus  operandi  of  killing  buffalo 
on  horseback  at  full  speed,  I  mounted  and  sallied  forth 
with  him,  the  weather  being  ideal  and  the  game  abundant. 

At  the  left  of  the  road,  in  sight,  thousands  of  buffalo 
were  grazing  in  a  vast  plain,  lower  than  the  ridge  down 
which  we  were  riding.  Opened  up  in  our  view  was  a  scope 
of  country  to  the  southeast  of  us,  a  distance  of  ten  miles. 
This  plain  was  covered  with  them,  all  heading  towards  the 
northwest. 

At  the  outset  I  was  more  fortunate  than  on  the  previous 
day,  for  when  I  had  gotten  up  close  to  them  I  found  In 
front  of  me  cows  and  calves,  young  things  of  one  or  two 
years  old.  Singling  out  a  fat  young  cow,  distinguished  by 
her  glossy  coat  of  hair,  I  forced  my  horse  right  up  against 
her  and  brought  her  down  at  the  second  shot.  I  pulled 
rein,  stopping  my -horse  as  suddenly  as  was  possible  at  the 
the  breakneck  speed  at  which  he  was  going,  and  in  another 


Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857.  17 

moment  'the  herd  had  spread  out,  and  I  was  completely 
surrounded  by  the  rushing  mass  of  animals  which  my  at- 
tack had  set  in  motion. 

The  air  was  so  clouded  with  dust  that  I  could  hardly 
see  more  than  twenty  yards  from  where  I  was  standing,  near 
the  carcass  of  the  cow  I  had  killed.  There  was  danger  of 
being  run  over  by  them,  but  they  separated  as  they  ap- 
proached, passing  on  either  side  of  me,  a  few  yards  distant. 
After  a  while  the  rushing  crowd  thinned,  and  up  rode  Capu 
tain  Chiles  exclaiming :  "Why  don't  you  kill  another  ?" 

Fifty  yards  from  us  they  were  rushing  by,  all  in  the 
same  direction.  I  again  dashed  into  the  midst  of  them, 
pressing  my  horse  in  pursuit  of  another  young  cow.  She 
shot  ahead  of  everything,  increasing  her  speed  so  that  I 
could  hardly  keep  sight  of  her.  While  thus  running  at  full 
•speed  my  horse  struck  a  calf  with  his  breast,  knocking  the 
calf  down  flat,  and  almost  throwing  himself  also.  I  pulled 
up  as  quickly  as  possible,  turned  around  and  shot  the  pros- 
trate calf  before  it  could  get  up.  So  I  had  two  dead  in,  say 
twenty  minutes.  After  this  day's  experience  I  had  no  trou- 
ble in  Idling  all  the  buffalo  we  needed  for  our  own  consump- 
tion. For  a  week  or  ten  days  they  were  hardly  out  of  sight. 
We  found  them  as  far  west  as  Pawnee  Eock.  All  told,  I 
killed  about  twenty  on  the  journey  out  and  back.  A  good 
steak,  cut  from  the  loin  of  a  buffalo  cow,  broiled  on  the 
coals  with  a  thin  slice  of  bacon  attached  to  it  to  improve 
its  flavor,  was  "good  eating/'  and  I  soon  bcame  an  accom- 
plished broiler. 


18  Over  {he  Santa-  F6  Trail,  1857. 

IV. 

COMPANIONS  OF  VOYAGE. 

Before  reaching  Pawnee  Kock  we  overtook  a  train  of 
thirty  wagons  belonging  to  the  leading  freighters  of  the 
West,  Majors,  Eussell  &  Waddell,  with  which  we  traveled  to 
Fort  Union,  their  freight  being  consigned  to  that  post.  This 
train  had  thirty  wagons,  built,  I  believe,  in  Philadelphia, 
with  heavy  iron  axles  and  spindles,  which  seemed  superior 
to  any  others  I  had  seen  on  the  prairies.  Hagan  was  wagon- 
master  and  Hines  his  assistant.  The  former  was  a  sandy- 
haired  man,  who  rode  a  large  bay  mule,  a  drowsy  animal 
with  immense  lop  ears  that  moved  back  and  forth  as  he 
walked.  This  ungainly  mule,  I  found  out,  in  a  day  or  two 
afterwards,  had  his  good  points.  He  could  run  as  fast  and 
get  up  as  close  to  a  buffalo  as  any  horse  in  either  outfit. 

Notwithstanding  Hagan's  generally  uncouth  appear-i 
ance,  he  was  a  man  of  sterling  worth  and  a  capital  hand 
at  killing  buffalo.  Subsequently  we  joined  in  many  chases, 
and  I  found  him  an  agreeable  companion.  On  the  rear  end 
of  each  of  the  wagons  in  Hagan's  train  there  was  pasted  a  set 
of  printed  rules  for  the  government  of  the  employees  in 
the  service  of  Majors,  Eussell  &  Waddell.  Both  liquor  and 
'profanity  were  absolutely  prohibited,  but  of  the  strict  en- 
forcement of  the  rules  I  cannot  speak. 

While  riding  in  advance  of  the  train,  in  company  with 
Captain  Chiles,  we  saw  our  Mexican  friend,  whose  acquaint- 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  19 

ance  we  had  formed  at  Westport,  the  master  of  his  own 
train,  galloping  toward  us,  with  a  buffalo  cow  following  close 
behind  his  horse.  As  was  his  habit,  he  had  attacked  the 
animal  with  his  spear,  stabbing  her  until  she  became  in- 
furiated so  that  she  turned  on  him  and  was  following  him; 
it  occurred  to  me  she  was  pressing  him  a  little  too  closely 
to  be  agreeable.  We  rode  rapidly  toward  him,  and  as  we 
were  drawing  near  the  cow  became  so  exhausted  by  loss  of 
blood  that  she  stopped  still,  when  Captain  Chiles  rode  up 
and  gave  her  a  broadside  with  his  shotgun,  which  fin- 
ished her. 

Whenever  they  found  buffalo  in  plenty  the  Mexicans 
would  halt  for  several  days  and  kill  etnough  to  supply  their 
trainmen.  They  preserved  the  meat  by  cutting  it  into  thin 
strips  and  hanging  it  on  ropes  about  the  corral  until  it  was 
dried  by  the  sun.  But  thus  cured,  it  had  a  sour  and  dis- 
agreeable taste  to  ma  The  Mexicans  would  stew  it  with 
quantities  of  red  pepper  and  devour  it  with  great  relish. 

As  we  approached  the  valley  of  the  Little  Arkansas, 
where  the  view  of  the  country  was  more  extensive  than  any 
we  had  yet  seen,  there  was  no  limit  to  the  herds  of  buffalo, 
the  face  of  the  earth  being  covered  with  them.  We  camped 
at  noon  at  the  crossing  of  this  stream.  The  buffalo  were 
crossing  the  creek  above  us,  moving-  westward,  in  bands 
of  from  twenty-five  to  a  hundred  or  mora  At  the  crossing 
they  had  a  trail  cut  down  through  the  steep  banks  of  the 
stream  three  or  four  feet  in  depth. 


20  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

But  I  had  had  enough  of  buffalo  chasing,  except  when 
we  weire  in  need  of  fresh  meat.  It  was  too  much  like  riding 
but  into  the  pasture  and  killing  your  own  domestic  cattle. 
I  found  antelope  hunting  much  better  sport. 

After  Walnut  creek,  the  next  place  of  interest  was  Paw- 
nee Eock  near  which  many  battles  between  the  traders  and 
the  Indians  had  taken  place.  This  bluff,  facing  the  road 
on  the  right  hand  side,  at  a  distance,  perhaps,  of  a  hundred 
yards,  was  of  brown  sandstone  about  fifty  feet  high,  the 
bluff  end  of  the  ridge  extending  down  to  the  river  bottom. 
I  climbed  up  the  almost  perpendicular  face  of  the  elevation, 
where  I  found  many  names  cut  in  the  soft  stone — names  of 
Santa  Fe  traders  who  had  traveled  the  trail,  among  them 
that  of  Colonel  M.  M.  Marmaduke,  who  crossed  to  Mexico 
as  early  as  1826,  and  was  afterwards  governor  of  Missouri, 
and  James  H.  Lucas,  a  prominent  and  wealthy  citizen  of 
St.  Louis. 

We  were  not  particularly  apprehensive  of  Indian  troub- 
les, although  we  knew  the  Cheyennes  were  turbulent.  Eli- 
jah Chiles,  a  brother  of  our  captain,  had  been  loading  goods 
at  Kansas  City  when  we  left — a  train  of  twenty-six  wagons 
for  the  Kiowas  and  Comanches — and  was  doubtless  a 
few  days'  drive  behind  us.  But  we  kept  on  the  lookout 
day  and  night;  the  guard  around  the  cattle  was  doubled, 
and  each  teamster  had  a  gun  of  some  sort,  which  he  kept 
strapped  to  the  wagon  bed,  loaded  and  ready  for  service. 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  21 

V. 

PESTIFEROUS  INDIANS. 

All  the  while  we  knew  the  Indians  could  wipe  us  out 
if  they  were  determined  to  do  so.  In  both  trains  there  were 
not  above  sixty  men,  while  there  were,  nearby,  warriors  by 
thousands. 

A  day's  journey  beyond  Pawnee  Bock,  we  were  visited 
by  a  hunting  party  of  fifteen  or  twenty  young  Kiowa  bucks, 
the  first  real  "wild"  Indians  we  had  seen.  They  did  not 
seem  the  least  wild,  however,  but  uncomfortably  "tame," 
and  disposed  to  get  very  familiar  on  short  acquaintance. 
They  were  evidently  out  on  a  lark,  and  disposed  to  make  us 
the  objects  of  their  amusement  that  afternoon. 

They  scattered  up  and  down  the  length  of  both  trains, 
talking  and  laughing  with  the  teamsters.  Two  of  them 
took  particular  fancy  to  my  friend  Eeece,  riding  on  either 
side  of  him,  taking  hold  of  his  arms  and  seeming  to  admire 
his  long  hair  and  the  handsome  horse  he  rode.  Eeece  was 
not  at  all  afraid  of  them  and  permitted  no  undue  interfer- 
ence with  his  person  or  property. 

Eeece  was  no  coward.  While  we  were  still  in  the  dan- 
gerous region,  he  would  ride  for  miles  ahead  of  the  train, 
alone,  dismount  and  lie  down  to  rest  or  sleep.  When  I 
said  to  him  that  he  was  incurring  unnecessary  risk  of  be- 
ing killed  by  the  Indians,  he  remarked  that  if  they  did  kill 
him  they  could  not  rob  him  of  much  in  this  world. 


22  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

Along  where  we  were  traveling  at  the  time  of  the  visit 
of  the  Kiowa  bucks,  the  river  bottom  was  as  smooth  as  a 
billiard  table.  Hagan's  train  was  in  the  lead  of  ours  a 
space  of  perhaps  thirty  yards  intervening.  Hagan  and  I 
were  riding  abreast  at  the  rear  of  his  train,  when  suddenly, 
two  of  the  young  bucks  raised  up  a  loud  whoop  and  started 
their  horses  at  full  speed.  Taking  a  corner  of  their  blankets 
in  each  hand  and  holding  them  above  their  heads  so  that 
they  made  a  flapping  sound  in  the  air,  they  went  sweep- 
ing along  right  against  the  cattle,  almost  instantly  creat- 
ing a  stampede,  the  cattle  turning  out  of  the  highway  mak- 
ing the  big  wagons  rattle  as  they  went. 

For  an  instant  Hagan  sat  on  his  mule  stock  still,  ap- 
parently dumbfounded.  In  another  moment  he  put  spurs 
to  his  mule,  intending  to  head  the  fleeing  cattle.  But  in- 
stead of  running,  the  mule  suddenly  "bucked,"  throwing 
Hagan  and  his  saddle  also  (the  girth  breaking)  over  his 
head  and  landing  him  in  the  road,  flat  on  his  back.  Hagan 
got  up,  pulled  himself  together  and  rubbed  the  dust  out  of 
his  eyes,  but  said  nothing,  though  gifted  in  the  way  of  elo- 
quent profanity. 

No  great  harm  resulted  from  the  stampede.  Some  oth- 
ers of  the  party  of  Indians  ran  ahead  and  stopped  the  cat- 
tle. There  was  no  collision  of  wagons  and  no  damage,  but 
the  affair  left  an  ugly  feeling  of  resentment  among  the 
teamsters  toward  the  Indians.  The  Indians  laughed  and 
talked  about  the  affair  among  themselves.  Any  effort  to 


f) 


THE  MULE   SUDDENLY  BUCKED. 


24  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

punish  them  was  out  of  the  question,  the  entire  tribes  of 
Kiowas  and  Comanches  being  encamped  within  a  day's 
journey  above  us. 

The  Indians  kept  along  with  the  train  all  of  the  after- 
noon. Observing  my  horse  and  accoutrements,  they  in- 
quired through  Juan,  the  Spaniard,  if  he  was  fleet  and  good 
for  buffalo,  and  pressed  me  to  go  out  with  them  for  buffalo 
the  next  day.  I  would  gladly  have  seen  the  Indians  engaged 
in  a  buffalo  chase,  but  declined  the  invitation,  making  such 
excuses  as  I  could  without  expressing  any  want  of  confi- 
dence as  to  their  good  fellowship.  My  scalp  was  intact 
and  I  felt  disposed  to  keep  it  so. 

The  Kiowas  begged  Captain  Chiles  and  Hagan  to  give 
them  some  flour  and  sugar,  but  they  refused,  knowing  that 
a  donation  would  be  necessary  later  on,  when  we  should  meet 
the  entire  tribes  of  Kiowas  and  Comanches  encamped  above 
us,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  their  agent  and  the  train  load 
of  goods  for  them. 

Late  in  the  evening,  after  we  had  corralled  and  the 
cooks  were  preparing  to  get  supper  these  Indians  having 
ridden  off  in  the  direction  of  the  river,  two  of  them  re- 
appeared. They  returned  to  the  camp,  each  with  a  bundle 
of  dry  driftwood,  picked  up  on  the  river  bank,  which  they 
threw  down  near  the  camp  fire.  This  meant  that  they 
wanted  supper,  and  Captain  Chiles  gave  directions  for  the 
preparation  of  food  for  them.  The  Indians  took  supper 
with  us,  after  which  they  departed,  evidently  feeling  bet- 
ter and  good  naturedly  disposed  toward  us. 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  25 

That  night  there  was  much  discussion  of  the  Indian 
problem,  with  which  we  seemed  now  confronted.  At  noon 
the  next  day,  as  the  cattle  were  being  driven  into  the  cor- 
ral, another  party  of  young  warriors  made  their  appear- 
ance at  our  camp,  and  came  near  involving  us  in  a  serious 
conflict.  The  trouble  was  brought  on  by  the  impatient  ac- 
tion of  our  assistant  wagonmaster,  Eice.  Four  or  five 
young  fellows  rode  up  into  the  rear  entrance  of  our  corral 
and  were  sitting  there  on  their  horses  looking  on  at  the 
yoking  of  the  cattla  They  partially  blocked  up  the  open- 
ing and  interfered  with  egress  of  the  teams.  Eice,  coming 
up  behind  them,  without  warning  gave  one  of  their  horses 
a  blow  with  a  heavy  blacksnake  whip.  The  horse  sprang 
forward,  nearly  unseating  the  rider,  who,  as  soon  as  he 
could  gather  up  the  reins  of  his  bridle,  turned  upon  Eice 
in  a  towering  rage,  jerked  an  arrow  from  its  quiver  and  fixed 
it  in  his  bow.  Forcing  his  horse  right  upon  Eice,  the  In- 
dian punched  him  with  the  point  of  the  arrow  until  he 
knocked  his  hat  off  his  head.  Eice  made  no  effort  to  resist 
the  affront  and  threatened  assault,  but  kept  backing  out  of 
the  Indian's  reach. 

I  was  standing  near  by  and  seized  my  pistol,  thinking 
that  a  fight  was  imminent.  At  the  height  of  the  excite- 
ment, Captain  Chiles  made  his  appearance  and  commanded 
peace,  in  manner  and  language  that  the  Indians  could  un- 
derstand, but  it  required  some  time  and  a  deal  of  talk  to 
get  them  quieted.  They  denouncd  Eice's  conduct  as  an 


26  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

insult  they  were  bound  to  resent,  and  declared  they  would 
kill  Bice  sooner  or  later.  Captain  Chiles,  speaking  through 
Juan,  our  Spaniard,  told  them  that  if  they  commenced  kill- 
ing they  woud  have  to  kill  us  all,  for  we  were  bound  to 
stand  together  when  it  came  to  that.  After  a  long  wrangle 
the  Indian  said  he  would  be  satisfied  if  allowed  to  give  Eice 
a  sound  flogging  with  a  whip,  but  Captain  Chiles  refused. 
Finally  the  Indians  seemed  to  recover  their  composure,  to 
some  extent,  and  rode  off  in  the  direction  of  the  main 
camp. 

*************** 

Somewhere  thereabout,  in  the  river  bottoms,  I  saw  the 
ruins  of  an  old  adobe  fort.  "Old  Fort  Atkinson,"  doubt- 
less named  for  and  established  and  built  by  the  command 
of  Colonel  Henry  Atkinson  of  the  regular  army,  with  whose 
military  career  I  happened  to  be  somewhat  familiar.  The 
remains  of  the  old  fort  excited  my  interest,  but  I  do  not 
recollect  to  have  seen  the  place  mentioned  by  any  of  the 
'•numerous  accounts  that  have  been  written  of  the  Santa 
F6  trail. 

The  fort  was  probably  built  in  1829.  At  that  time  a 
body  of  regular  troops  was  sent  out  on  the  trail  as  a  pro- 
tection to  the  traders.  Colonel  Henry  Atkinson  was  or- 
dered west  in  1818  and  placed  in  command  of  the  Ninth 
Military  department,  then  comprising  the  entire  country 
west  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  with 
headquarters  at  Fort  Bellefontaine,  near  St.  Louis.  He 


PUNCHED  HIM  WITH  THE  POINT. 


28  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

was  soon  afterward  advanced  in  rank  to  brigadier  general 
and  held  the  command  at  Jefferson  barracks  until  his  death 
in  1842.  The  military  post  at  Council  Bluffs,  la.,  was  estab- 
lished by  Colonel  Atkinson  in  1819,  when  he  and  his  troops 
were  transported  on  the  first  steamboats  ascending  the  Mis- 
souri river.  He  served  with  distinction  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  in  command  of  the  forces. 


VI. 

AT  THE  KIOWA  CAMP. 

The  train  had  got  under  way  the  next  morning  when 
the  lodges  of  the  Kiowas  loomed  up  in  sight  of  us.  The 
camp  seemed  to  extend  over  territory  a  mile  square.  The 
Indians  said  the  entire  tribe  was  assembled  'there — chiefs, 
warriors,  squaws  and  papooses.  Presently  we  could  see 
them  moving  towards  us,  hundreds  of  them,  on  horseback 
and  on  foot,  all  sorts  and  sizes,  men,  women  and  children, 
coming  to  take  a  view  of  the  white  man  and  his  belongings 
as  they  passed. 

Soon  we  could  see  also  the  lodges  of  the  Comanches,  ap- 
pearing about  equal  in  number,  and  covering  a  like  extent 
of  country.  The  two  camps  were  a  mile  or  more  apart. 

It  had  been  agreed  between  the  wagonmasters  that  we 
would  not  make  the  usual  noonday  halt  that  day,  but  would 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  29 

drive  by  the  Indian  camps  and  as  far  beyond  as  it  was  pos- 
sible for  the  cattle  to  stand  the  travel.  We  had  anticipated 
a  great  throng  of  Indians,  and  here  they  came  by  the 
hundreds! 

Some  of  the  '^big  men"  among  them  had  guns  or  pis- 
tols, but  the  greater  number,  in  fact  almost  every  one, had 
a  bow  and  quiver  of  arrows  slung  over  his  shoulders,  even 
the  children  who  looked  not  over  ten  years  old.  One  chief 
wore  a  complete  outfit  of  blue,  with  the  insignia  of  a  cap- 
tain of  the  United  States  army,  and  had  a  Coifs  revolver, 
but  nearly  all  of  them  were  naked  to  the  waist,  with  a 
breech-clout  and  a  sort  of  kilt  of  buckskin  around  the  loins, 
hanging  down  nearly  to  the  knees.  Some  wore  moccasins, 
while  many  were  barefooted. 

The  little  fellows,  nude,  save  for  a  breech-clout,  had 
little  bows  about  a  foot  long,  with  arrows  of  cactus  thorn, 
with  which  they  would  shoot  grasshoppers  and  other  insects, 
showing  astonishing  skill.  Numbers  of  the  warriors  car- 
ried spears,  with  long  handles,  glittering  in  the  sunlight 
as  they  rode  along,  giving  the  caravan  the  appearance  of  a 
vast  army  of  Crusaders  on  the  march  to  the  Holy  Land. 

Captain  Chiles,  endeavoring  to  shift  the  responsibility  and 
escape  the  annoyance  of  the  Indians,  pointed  to  Reece,  on 
his  fine  horse,  and  said:  "There  is  the  captain;  talk  to 
him.  Ask  him  for  what  you  want."  But  they  could  not 
be  so  easily  deceived.  It  is  said  that  you  cannot  fool  In- 
dians in  this  particular;  that  they  never  fail  to  distinguish 


30  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

the  wagonmaster,  and  appear  to  select  the  chief  of  any  crowd 
or  caravan  intuitively. 

As  we  were  traveling  along  the  Indians  gave  frequent 
exhibitions  of  the  speed  of  their  horses,  running  races  with 
each  other,  but  at  a  sufficient  distance  not  to  frighten  or 
stampede  our  cattle.  The  younger  men  kept  up  a  continual 
chattering  and  laughing;  horse  racing  seemed  their  great 
amusement.  The  young  fellows  of  the  visit  renewed  their 
invitation,  urging  me  to  join  them  in  a  buffalo  chase,  ex- 
plaining that  the  herds  were  not  far  off,  and  expressing  a 
great  desire  to  see  a  trial  of  my  buffalo  horse  in  a  chase 
with  theirs.  I  again  declined.  The  train  was  continually 
moving  and  would  not  be  stopped  to  suit  my  convenience, 
and  there  were  other  reasons,  not  unreasonably  discreet. 

The  head  men  of  the  tribes,  addressing  the  wagonmas- 
ters,  complained  that  they  were  in  great  need  of  supplies, 
owing  to  the  delay  in  the  arrival  of  their  annuities,  and 
asked  a  gift  from  the  two  trains.  The  two  wagonmasters, 
after  some  demurring,  proposed  to  them  that  if  they,  with 
all  their  people,  would  withdraw  from,  and  cease  to  follow 
the  train,  and  desist  from  annoying  us,  after  we  had  cor- 
ralled, we  would  go  into  camp  and  give  them  such  supplies 
as  we  could  spare. 

To  this  proposition  the  chiefs  agreed.  One  of  the  lead- 
ers began  talking  in  a  loud  voice  to  the  multitude,  gradually 
riding  off  from  us,  the  crowd  following.  Beaching  a  knoll 
which  elevated  him  so  that  he  could  overlook  them,  he  dis- 


Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857.  31 

mounted  and  proceeded  to  make  a  speech.  They  seemed  a 
little  slow  about  leaving,  the  multitude  appearing  to  be  not 
altogether  governed  by  the  leaders,  but  nearly  all  finally 
withdrew  in  the  direction  of  their  own  camp.  Driving  on 
a  few  hundred  yards  further,  our  corrals  were  formed  and 
the  cattle  were  driven  off  some  distance  for  water,  while 
preparations  were  made  for  cooking  dinner. 

In  a  little  while  the  chiefs,  representing  both  tribes, 
made  their  appearance  at  our  corral,  where  the  wagon- 
masters  of  both  trains  had  met  to  hold  the  diplomatic  con- 
ference to  determine  how  much  of  a  gift  of  supplies  they 
were  expecting  from  us. 

The  Indian  chiefs  dismounted  from  their  horses,  walked 
into  the  corral  and  sat  down  on  the  ground,  in  the  semi- 
circle, to  the  number  of  perhaps  a  dozen  and  were  soon 
joined  by  the  wagonmasters,  together  with  our  interpreter 
Juan. 

Writing  now,  in  the  year  1901,  solely  from  memory, 
forty-three  years  since  this  scene  occurred,  I  am  unable  to 
recollect  all  that  was  said,  or  the  names  of  any  of  the  In- 
dians who  were  present  and  took  part  in  this  parley.  No 
•doubt  San  Tanta,  that  famous  Kiowa  chief,  was  among 
them,  but  I  took  no  notes  whatever  of  this  journey,  and  am 
forced  now  to  rely  entirely  on  my  memory.  I  recall  that' 
it  was  stated  that  one  of  the  most  influential  of  the  Coman- 
che  chiefs  who  was  there  was  an  out-and-out  Spaniard  or 
Mexican,  speaking  the  Indian  language  as  well  as  anybody, 


32  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

and  was  generally  known  and  recognized  as  among  the 
meanest,  most  cruel  and  blood  thirsty  of  the  Comanche 
tribe.  One  of  the  elder  looking  Indians  produced  a  big 
pipe,  filled  it  with  tobacco,  lighted  it,  and  after  taking  a  few 
puffs  himself  passed  it  to  the  one  next  to  him.  Thus  the 
pipe  was  passed  around  to  each  one  in  the  circle  until  all 
had  taken  part  in  the  smoke.  The  Indians  were  dignified, 
discreet  and  cautious,  as  appeared  to  me  during  the  confer- 
ence, leaving  the  impression  that  our  troubles  with  them 
were  about  to  terminate,  and  this  proved  to  be  the  fact. 

At  the  close,  and  as  a  result  of  the  council,  a  half-dozen 
sacks  of  flour,  half  that  many  sacks  of  sugar,  and  a  lot  of 
sides  of  bacon  were  brought  forth  from  the  mess  wagons 
and  stacked  up  on  the  ground,  near  where  the  collection  of 
dignitaries  of  the  prairies  were  sitting,  smoking  the  pipe 
of  peace  and  good  fellowship. 

I  thought  the  Indians  regarded  the  things  we  were  giv- 
ing them,  as  a  sort  of  tribute  we  were  under  obligations  to 
pay  for  the  privilege  of  passing  through  their  country  un- 
molested. 

Pack  mules  were  brought  up,  the  supplies  were  loaded  on 
them  and  they  departed  in  the  direction  of  the  general  camp, 
those  engaged  in  the  conference  soon  following. 

In  the  evening,  before  we  broke  camp,  two  young  bucks 
came  galloping  into  the  camp.  Addressing  Captain  Chiles, 
they  said  that  by  instruction  of  their  chief  they  had  come  to 
ireturn  a  pair  of  blankets  that  had  been  stolen  by  one  of 


Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857.  33 

the  tribe.  They  threw  down  the  blankets  and  the  captain 
called  to  the  men  at  the  mess  wagon  to  give  them  a  cup 
of  sugar  each,  saying  that  it  was  the  first  instance  in  his 
life  when  an  Indian  had  restored  stolen  property. 


VII. 

TO    THE    ClMARRON. 

Escaping  any  further  delay  from  Indians  or  from  other 
causes,,  good  headway  was  made  by  the  trains  up  the  Arkan- 
sas until  we  reached  the  "lower  crossing."  It  had  been  de- 
termined by  the  wagonmasters  that  we  would  cross  the  river 
here,  taking  the  Cimarron  route.  Although  the  river  was 
fordable,  yet  it  was  quite  tedious  and  difficult  to  get  the 
heavily  loaded  wagons  across  the  stream,  the  water  being 
waist-deep  and  the  bottom  uneven. 

Neither  an  ox  nor  a  mule  will  pull  when  he  gets  into 
water  touching  his  body.  The  mule,  under  such  circum- 
stances, always  has  a  tendency  to  fall  down,  and  so  get 
drowned,  by  becoming  entangled  in  the  harness.  To  meet 
this  emergency  the  ox  teams  were  doubled,  ten  yoke  being 
hitched  to  each  wagon,  and  were  urged  to  do  their  duty  by 
a  half-dozen  drivers  on  each  side,  wading  through  the  water 
beside  them. 

The  greater  part  of  one  day  was  taken  up  in  getting 
the  wagons  across,  but  it  was  accomplished  without  serious 


34  Omr  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

loss.  Everything  being  over,  we  encamped  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  on  the  opposite  side,,  and  rested  a  day,  in  recogni- 
tion of  the  Fourth  of  July.  We  fired  some  shots,  and  Cap- 
tain Chiles  brought  forth  from  his  trunk  some  jars  of  goose- 
berries, directing  the  cooks  to  make  some  pies,  as  an  addi- 
tional recognition  of  the  national  holiday.  The  gooseber- 
ries were  all  right,  but  the  pie  crust  would  have  given  an 
ostrich  a  case  of  indigestion. 

Th  old  Santa  Fe  trail,  from  the  lower  crossing  of  the 
Arkansas,  ran  southwest  to  the  Cimarron,  across  a  stretch 
of  country  where  there  was  no  water  for  a  distance  of  nearly 
sixty  miles,  if  my  memory  serves  me  correctly.  All  the 
water  casks  were  filled  from  the  Arkansas  river  for  the  use 
of  the  men,  but  of  course  there  was  no  means  of  carrying 
water  for  horse  or  ox./ 

The  weather  was  warm  and  dry,  and  now  we  were  about 
to  enter  upon  the  "hornada,"  the  Spanish  word  for  "dry 
stretch."  Intending  to  drive  all  night,  starting  was  post- 
poned until  near  sundown.  Two  or  three  miles  from  £he 
Arkansas  we  apparently  reached  the  general  altitude  of  the 
plains  over  which  we  trudged  during  the  whole  night,  with 
nothing  but  the  rumbling  of  the  wagons  and  the  occasional 
shout  of  one  of  the  drivers  to  break  the  silesnce  of  the  plain. 

It  was  my  first  experience  of  traveling  at  night,  on  this 
journey.  Toward  midnight  I  became  so  sleepy  that  I  could 
hardly  sit  on  my  horse,  so  dismounting,  I  walked  and  led 
him.  Advancing  to  a  point  near  the  head  of  the  trains  I 


I 


1 

H 

w 


Kj 

s 


§ 


36  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

ventured  to  lie  down  on  the  ground  to  rest,  as  the  trains 
were  passing  at  least  Instantly  my  clothes  were  perforated 
with  cactus  needles  which  pricked  me  severely,  and  waking 
me  thoroughly.  In  the  darkness  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
I  could  get  the  needles  out.  Mounting  my  horse  again  I 
rode  some  distance  in  advance  of  everybody,  completely  out 
of  hearing  of  the  trains,  and  riding  thus  alone,  with  noth- 
ing visible  but  the  stars,  a  feeling  of  melancholy  seized  me, 
together  with  a  sense  of  homesickness,  with  which  I  had 
!not  hitherto  been  troubled.  Each  day's  travel  was  increas- 
ing the  distance  between  me,  my  home  and  my  mother,  to 
whom  I  was  most  dearly  attached;  and  here  amid  the  soli- 
tude, darkness  and  perfect  quietude  of  the  vast  plains  I  be- 
gan to  reflect  upon  the  dangers  besetting  me,  and  the  un- 
certainty of  ever  returning  to  my  home  or  seeing  my  rela- 
tives again. 

The  approach  of  morning  and  the  rising  of  the  sun  soon 
dispelled  these  forebodings  of  evil  and  revived  my  spirits. 
Old  Sol,  like  a  ball  of  fire,  emerged  from  the  endless  plain 
to  the  east  of  us,  as  from  the  ocean,  soon  overwhelming  us 
with  a  flood  of  light  such  as  I  had  neveir  experienced  before. 
During  all  that  day's  march  the  heat  was  intense  and  the 
(sunlight  almost  blinding,  the  kind  of  weather  that  creates 
Ithe  mirage  of  the  plains.  In  the  distance  on  either  hand, 
fine  lakes  of  clear  water  were  seen  glistening  in  the  sun, 
sometimes  appearing  circular  in  shape,  surrounded  with  the 
proper  shores,  the  illusion  being  apparently  complete,  so 


Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857.  37 

much  so  that  several  times  during  the  day  I  rode  some  dis- 
tance seeking  to  ascertain  if  they  were  really  lakes  or  not. 
I  found  them  receding  as  I  approached,  and  was  unable  to 
get  any  closer  to  them  than  when  as  a  boy  I  set  out  to  find 
the  sack  of  gold  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow. 

About  midday  we  passed  a  great  pile  of  bleached  bones 
of  mules  that  had  been  thrown  up  in  a  conical  shaped  heap 
by  the  passing  trainmen,  in  the  course  of  the  ten  years  they 
had  been  lying  there.  They  were  the  remains  of  200  or  300 
mules  belonging  to  John  S.  Jones,  a  Missourian,  a  citizen 
of  Pettis  county,  whom  I  knew  personally.  In  1847,  and 
for  many  years  afterward,  Jones  was  engaged  in  freighting 
across  the  plains.  In  '47,  having  obtained  a  contract  from 
the  government  to  transport  freight  for  the  troops  at  Santa 
Fe,  he  got  a  start  late  in  the  season,  and  had  only  reached 
the  crossing  of  the  Arkansas  when  he  was  overtaken  by  such 
deep  snow  and  severely  cold  weather  as  to  compel  him  to 
stop  .and  go  into  quasi-winter  quarters.  While  there,  pro* 
tected  by  such  barracks  for  man  and  beast  as  could  be  hast- 
ily constructed,  he  received  orders  from  the  commander  of 
the  troops  in  New  Mexico  that  he  must  hurry  up  with  the 
supplies,  orders  of  such  urgency  that  they  could  not  be  dis- 
regarded. He  had  a  mule  train  of  thirty  wagons.  Orders 
were  given  to  hitch  up  and  start.  The  weather  moderated 
the  first  day,  but  on  the  second  they  encountered  a  heavy 
and  cold  rain  freezing  as  it  fell,  and  were  forced  to  go  into 
corral.  Intense  cold  followed  and  every  one  of  the  mules 


38  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

froze  to  death,,  huddling  in  the  corral,  during  the  night. 
Tears  afterwards,  through  thei  influence  of  Colonel  Benton 
in  the  Senate  and  John  G-.  Miller  of  Missouri  in  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives  an  appropriation  was  made  by  Congress 
of  $40,000  to  pay  Mr.  Jones  for  the  loss  of  his  mules. 

In  the  forenoon  of  the  second  day  from  the  Arkansas  we 
reached  Sand  creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Cimarron,  where  we 
found  a  pool  of  stagnant  water,  not  enough  for  the  oxen, 
but  sufficient  for  the  trainmen  to  make  coffee  with,  and 
there  we  camped.  A  few  hours  afterwards  we  struck  the 
valley  of  the  Cimarron,  and,  after  riding  up  the  bed  of  the 
apparently  dry  stream,  we  discovered  a  pool  of  clear  water. 
The  cattle  were  so  famished  that  they  ran  into  it,  hitched 
to  the  wagons,  their  drivers  being  unable  to  restrain  them, 
and  it  was  with  considerable  difficulty  that  the  wagons  were 
afterwards  pulled  out  of  the  mud. 


VIII. 

MY  FIRST  ANTELOPE. 

After  reaching  the  Cimarron  we  began  seeing  herds  of 
antelope  in  the  distance.  At  first  I  tried  "flagging"  them. 
I  had  been  told  that  on  approaching  within  two  or  three 
hundred  yards  of  them,  concealed  from  their  view  behind 
an  intervening  ridge,  these  animals  were  possessed  of 
such  inordinate  curiosity  that  they  could  be  etotieed  to  within 


r,."- 


THEIR   DRIVERS    WERE    UNABLE    TO    RESTRAIN    THEM. 


40  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

gunshot  of  the  hunter  by  tying  a  handkerchief  on  the  end 
of  a  stick  and  elevating  it  in  sight  of  the  antelope,  the  hun- 
ter, of  course,  keeping  concealed.  I  made  several  efforts 
at  this  plan  of  exciting  their  curiosity,  and  while  some  of 
them  came  toward  me  at  first  sight  of  the  flag,  their  curiosity 
seemed  counterbalanced  by  caution  or  incredulity,  and  in 
no  instance  could  I  geit  one  to  come  near  enough  for  a  sure 
or  safe  shot.  I  then  tried  a  rifle,  with  which  I  was  also  un- 
successful, not  then  being  able  to  make  a  correct  estimate 
of  the  distance  between  me?  and  the  antelope,  a  troublesome 
task,  only  to  be  acquired  by  experience  and  constant  practice. 

The  old  trail  ran  along  up  the  valley  of  the  Cimarror 
several  days'  drive.  A  singular  stream  was  the  Cimarron; 
for  the  most  part  of  the  bed  of  the  stream  was  sand,  per- 
fectly dry,  but  now  and  then,  every  mile  or  two,  we  found 
a  hole  of  clear  good  water,  except  that  it  was  slightly  tinct- 
ured with  alkali,  a  brackish,  but  not  unpleasant  taste.  There 
'•were  three  fairly  good  springs  along  the  road  near  the  Cim- 
arron, designated  as  the  lower,  middle  and  upper  spring, 
and  we  camped  near  each  of  them  as  we  passed.  As  we 
traveled  up  the  valley  squads  of  antelope  could  be  seen  view- 
ing the  train  from  the  heights  on  either  side  of  the  valley. 

Captain  Chiles  had  along  with  him  two  shotguns,  the 
smaller  he  had  been  using  on  buffalo,  the  other,  an  unusual- 
ly large,  double  barrel,  number  8  bore,  very  long  in  barrel 
and  heavy,  carrying  easily  twenty  buck  shot  in  each  barrel. 
Armed  with  that  big  gun  I  would  ride  in  the  direction  of 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  41 

the  antelopes,  but  at  an  angle  indicating  that  I  would  pass 
them.  Usually  when  I  had  gotten  within  three  or  four 
hundred  yards  of  them  they  would  quietly  withdraw  from 
view  behind  the  ridge,  whereat,  I  would  turn  the  course  of 
my  horse  and  gallop  as  fast  as  I  could,  keeping  the  ridge 
between  them  and  me  until  I  had  gotten  within  a  short  dis- 
tance of  the  point  of  their  disappearance.  Then  dismount- 
ing, I  hastily  followed  them  on  foot.  Often  they  would  be 
found  to  have  moved  not  out  of  the  range  of  that  big  gun, 
and  with  it  I  killed  many  of  them.  That  was  the  only 
plan  of  killing  antelope  by  which  I  gained  success.  Dur- 
ing this  part  of  the  journey  we  saw  many  wolves,  and  of 
many  varieties,  from  the  little  coyote  to  the  great  gray 
wolf.  They  were  all  very  shy,  however,  and  difficult  to 
Approach  within  gun  shot. 

On  the  Cimarron  we  were  overtaken  by  the  mail  coach, 
one  of  the  monthly  lines  then  operated  by  Waldo  &  Co.  of 
Independence,  Mo.  The  coach  had  left  Westport  five  days 
Jater  than  our  train.  The  driver,  guards  and  passengers 
were  all  "loaded  to  the  guards"  (to  use  a  steamboat  phrase) 
with  guns  and  pistols. 

While  the  train  was  under  headway  one  morning  Cap- 
tain Chiles  rode  along  the  length  of  the  train  inquiring  for 
"Skeesicks,"  but  "Skeesicks"  did  not  answer,  and  no  one 
could  tell  anything  about  him.  The  captain  ordered  the 
train  stopped  and  a  search  to  be  made  of  each  wagon,  but 
the  searchers  failed  to  find  any  sign  of  "Skeesicks."  Fur- 


42  Over  {he  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

therr  inquiry  developed  the  fact  that  he  had  started  out  as 
one  of  the  guards  at  midnight  to  protect  the  herd  of  cat- 
tle, they  being  off  a  mile  or  more  from  the  corral,  where 
grass  was  found,  and  no  one  had  seen  him  since.  Captain 
Chiles  declared  that  he  could  not  afford  to  stop  for  so  worth- 
less a  fellow  as  "Skee sicks/'  and  thereupon  the  orders  were 
given  for  the  train  to  proceed. 

Having  traveled  tetn  or  twelve  miles,  a  camp  was  located 
at  the  foot  of  a  mound  which  overlooked  the  road  we  had 
been  traveling  for  nearly  the  whole  distance  of  the  morn- 
ing's drive. 

At  dinner,  the  propriety  of  laying  by  for  a  day  or  two, 
or  long  etnough  to  make  a  proper  search  for  our  lost  com- 
rade, was  discussed;  but  the  teamsters  all  realized  that  no 
captain  of  a  ship  at  sea  ever  wielded  more  absolute  author- 
ity than  Captain  Chiles.  He  could  brook  no  opposition, 
and  little  criticism  of  his  course  or  conduct.  Any  disobedi- 
ence of  his  orders  he  regarded  as  equal  to  mutiny  and  was 
punished  accordingly.  About  the  entire  camp  a  sullen 
silence  prevailed.  Suddenly  some  one  cried  out  that  an  ob- 
ject could  be  seen  away  down  the  road  that  might  be  "iSkee^ 
sicks,"  but  just  then,  no  one  could  discern  whether  a  man 
or  a  horse  or  an  Indian. 

The  entire  party  assembled  outside  the  corral  to  watch 
the  approaching  object,  and  after  a  while  our  lost  "Skee- 
sicks"  walked  up,  covered  with  dust  and  worn  out  with 


,^e 


•'SKEESICKS"    WALKED    DP. 


44  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

fatigue  of  constant  walking  for  over  twelve  hours,  without 
food  or  water. 

He  was  soon  revived  by  a  comforting  dinner.  He  said 
he  had  been  aroused  at  midnight  from  a  sound  sleep  to  as- 
sume his  turn  as  cattle  guard,  and  on  his  way  from  the  cor- 
ral to  the  herd,  he  had  wandered  apart  from  his  companion 
guard,  soon  becoming  bewildered  and  completely  lost.  He 
wandered  about  during  the  entire  night,  not  knowing  in 
what  direction  he  was  going,  and  was  all  the  while  afraid 
to  stop  for  fear  of  the  wolves  that  were  howling  around  him 
continually.  After  daylight  he  accidentally  found  the  road, 
and  although  bewildered,  he  had  setnse  enough  remaining  to 
follow  it  to  the  west,  whence  he  had  overtaken  us. 

As  the  cattle  were  being  yoked,  Captain  Chiles  called 
up  "Little  Breech"  and  directed  him  to  get  the  large  cow 
bell  he  had  brought  along  to  put  on  the  black  steer  that 
was  in  the  habit  of  wandering  from  the  herd  at  night.  The 
wagonmaster,  with  the  bell  in  hand,  walked  up  to  "Skee- 
sicks,"  who  was  sitting  on  a  wagon  tongue  resting  his  weary 
legs,  and  said,  "  'Skeesicks/  I  am  determined  not  to  lose  you 
again,  and  am  going  to  take  no  chances."  Then  he  buckled 
the  strap  attached  to  the  bell  around  "Skeesick's"  neck. 
Turning  to  "Little  Breech''  he  gave  him  particular  orders 
to  drive  "Skeesicks"  in  the  cavayard  and  in  no  event  to 
allow  him  to  wander  away  again. 

All  that  afternoon  "Skeesicks"  plodded  along  with  the 
lame  cattle  in  the  cavayard,  at  the  rear  of  the  train,  the 


HE  PLODDED  ALONG  WITH  THE  LAME  CATTLE. 


46  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

bell  ringing  at  every  step.  In  the  evening,  after  we  had 
corralled,  he  went  to  Captain  Chiles  and  plaintively  beseeched 
him  to  remove  the  bell.  The  captain  gently  unbuckled  the 
strap,  but  again  charged  "Little  Breech"  to  keep  his  eye  on 
"Skeesicks"  and  not  permit  him  to  wander  from  the  train. 


IX. 

A  KICKING  GUN  AND  A  BUCKING  MULE. 

Here  for  some  days  we  were  traversing  a  continuous 
ilevel  plain,  treeless  and  trackless,  except  for  the  road  we 
traveled,  covered  with  buffalo  grass,  then  turned  a  beautiful 
straw  color  by  the  sun  and  dry  weather,  but  still  affording 
excellent  pasturage.  Not  a  tree  had  we  seen,  none  since 
we  crossed  the  Arkansas. 

We  were  slowly  but  regularly  leaving  behind  us  the  mo- 
notonous plain,  to  emter  upon  a  region  of  great  natural  beau- 
ty and  attractiveness.  On  a  beautiful  morning  after  the 
train  had  been  moving  for  a  short  time,  the  Eabbit  Ear 
mounds  were  seen,  peering  up  in  the  distance,  through  the 
hasy  atmosphere.  Yet  we  were  a  day's  journey  from  them. 
These  twin  diminutive  sentinels  of  the  Eockies,  stationed 
here  to  the  left  of  our  road,  could  not  have  been  more  ap- 
propriately named,  their  resemblance  to  the  ears  of  a  jack- 
rabbit  being  strikingly  obvious. 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  47 

A  day  or  two  after  passing  the  Babbit  Ears  we  were  for- 
tunate in  the  beauty  and  attractiveness  of  the  location  of  our* 
corral.  Immediately  west  of  ua  the  view  was  limited  to  a  mUe 
or  two,  shut  off  by  the  bluff  rim  of  a  stretch  of  table-land,  ris- 
ing perhaps  a  hundred  feet  above  our  level,  the  face  of  the 
elevation  extending  north  and  south,  the  road  we  were  travel- 
ing passing  around  the  base  of  its  southern  extremity. 
About  midway  of  the  rim  of  this  plateau  of  table-land  there 
was  a  small  mound  of  regular  sugar-loaf  shape,  rising  to 
perhaps  the  height  of  twenty  feet,  on  the  top  pinnacle  of 
which  stood  a  single  buck  antelope  looking  at  the  train  as 
it  was  starting  out  just  at  sunrise.  There  he  stood  for  some 
time  stock  still  gazing  at  us.  The  morning  was  absolutely 
glorious,  the  perfect  weather  of  N&w  Mexico.  I  determined 
to  give  this  solitary  buck  antelope  a  trial. 

Procuring  the  big  double-barreled  shotgun  belonging  to 
Captain  Chiles,  I  mounted  my  horse,  riding  in  almost  the 
opposite  direction  to  that  in  which  the  train  was  moving. 
The  buck  held  his  position  until  I  had  ridden  nearly  oppo- 
site him,  my  course,  leaving  him  nearly  half  a  mile  to  the 
left,  when  he  suddenly  retired  behind  the  mound.  Imme- 
diately turning  my  horse  I  galloped  over  the  ascending 
ground  until  I  got  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  base  of 
the  mound,  dismounted  quickly,  walked  rapidly  up  to  it; 
then  I  crawled  as  quietly  as  possible  nearly  to  the  top. 
Peeping  around  so  as  to  get  a  view  of  the  opposite  side,  I 
beheld,  forty  yards  from  me,  that  fine  buck,  looking  intent- 


48  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

ly  toward  me,  with  four  or  five  of  Ms  companions  lying  down 
near  him,  so  close  together  that  I  could  almost  have  covered 
them  all  with  the  big  shotgun. 

Holding  the  gun  in  the  right  hand — it  was  so  heavy  that 
I  could  scarcely  handle  it — cocking  both  barrels,  I  pushed  it 
out  in  front  of  me,  and  just  as  I  was  in  the  act  of  placing 
the  breech  of  the  gun  against  my  shoulder,  but  before  I  had 
gotten  it  fairly  in  place,  off  it  went,  both  barrels  simultane- 
ously, sounding  like  a  cannon,  and  kicking  me  with  such 
force  as  to  turn  me  over  and  over,  rolling  me  down  nearly 
'to  the  foot  of  the  mound.  The  gun  struck  my  face,  bruis- 
ing it  badly,  making  my  nose  bleed  profusely  and  stunning 
me,  but  not  so  badly  but  that  I  noticed  the  bunch  of  fine 
antelope  scampetring  off,  frightened,  but  untouched.  My 
horse  stood  quietly  where  I  had  left  him  picketed. 

Our  real  character,  "Little  Breeches,"  antedated  the  poet- 
ical child  of  the  fancy  of  Colonel  John  Hay,  introduced  to 
the  public  some  thirty  years  ago.  Whether  this  distin- 
guished gentleman  had  any  knowledge  of  our  cavayard  dri- 
ver, I  do  not  know,  but  in  truth  the  two  "Little  Breeches" 
had  similar  characteristics,  both  "chawing  tebacker"  at  an 
early  age,  and  our  "Little  Breeches"  had  the  additional  ac- 
complishment of  swearing  with  emphasis,  and  articulation 
unexcelled  or  unequaled  by  any  of  the  older  and  more  hard- 
ened "bull-whackers"  of  our  train. 

"Little  Breech"  rode  a  pony  mule,  a  small  animal  of 
most  perfect  shape,  with  activity  to  correspond.  The  noon 


HE  JUMPED  AND  KICKED. 


50  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

day  camp  was  breaking  up,  the  cattle  were  all  yoked  and 
hitched  to  the  wagons.  "Little  Breech"  had  mounted  his 
mule,  preparing  to  round  up  his  cavayard.  At  the  moment 
the  reins  were  lying  loose  on  the  mule's  neck,  while  "Lit- 
tle Breech"  had  both  hands  employed  in  adjusting  his  belt. 
Impulse  dictated  so>,  walking  towards  him  unobserved,  I 
picked  up  a  stick,  raised  the  mule's  tail  and  gently  placed 
the  stick  under  it.  The  mule  instantly  clasped  it  tight 
with  his  tail,  commencing,  before  "Little  Breech"  could  seize 
the  bridle  reins,  the  worst  spell  of  bucking  I  had  witnessed 
on  the  journey.  He  jumped  and  kicked  and  kicked  and 
jumped  for  a  hundred  yards,  describing  a  semi-circle  in  his 
gyrations.  I  was  alarmed,  fearing  the  boy's  neck  would 
surely  be  broken.  But  failing  to  get  hold  of  the  bridal 
reins,  he  clamped  the  horn  of  the  Spanish  saddle,  and,  re- 
taining his  seat  to  the  end,  all  the  while  swearing  at  me  with 
as  great  force  as  he  could  command,  his  volubility  being 
very  much  restricted  by  the  prolonged  bucking. 


A  GRAY  WOLF. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  find  the  derivation  of 
some  of  the  Spanish  or  Mexican  words  and  phrases  then 
in  use  by  the  Stanta  Fe  traders.  For  instance,  the  word 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  51 

"cavayard,"  I  have  used  and  spelled  as  it  was  pronounced 
by  these  unlettered  plainsmen  and  as  applied  by  them  to  the 
bunch  of  loose  cattle  and  horses  driven  behind  the  train. 
The  pure  Castilian  has  undoubtedly  suffered  many  changes 
Sn  New  Mexico,,  among  the  lower  classes  particularly.  The 
Spanish  words  used  by  these  plainsmen  had  been  both  Mex- 
icanized  and  then  Missourianized  until  so  changed  ana  cor- 
rupted as  to  be  hardly  recognizable  at  all.  This  word  "cava- 
yard,"  they  declared,  was  of  Spanish  origin;  if  so  it  must 
have  been  a  corruption  of  "caballar" — pronounced  "cavall- 
lyar/'  meaning  an  attendant  on  horses.  The1  derivation  of 
the  word  "hornada,"  which  we  found  given  to  the  dry 
stretch  between  the  Arkansas  and  Cimarron  is  equally 
obscure. 

Among  the  teamsters  was  a  Mexican,  whose  name  I  have 
forgotten.  One  morning  Captain  Chiles  got  up  earlier  than 
usual,  at  break  of  day,  in  fact,  and,  while  waking  up  the 
men  he  discovered  this  Mexican  beating  one  of  his  oxen 
severely  with  bow  of  the  ox  yoke.  This  was  a  gross  viola- 
tion of  the  rules,  but  when  Captain  Chiles  censured  him 
in  pretty  strong  language  he  talked  back  to  him  in  a  threat- 
ening manner.  Thereupon  the  captain,  drawing  one  of  the 
two  navy  pistols  swinging  to  a  belt  around  his  waist,  hold- 
ing it  in  one  hand,  and  with  a  heavy  blacksnake  whip  in 
the  other,  advanced  upon  him  and  proceeded  to  give  him  a 
severe  flogging  with  the  whip.  The  Mexican  was  held  fast 
by  the  threatening  aspects  of  the  navy  pistol  pointed  at  him 


52  Over  the  Santa  Ft  Trail,  1857. 

all  the  while  until  he  had  received  a  very  severe  flogging. 
The  following  night  the  Mexican  "skipped  out,"  and  was 
never  seen  by  us  afterwards,  but  no  doubt  made  his  way  to 
the  settlements  of  New  Mexico,  then  not  more  than  200 
miles  distant. 

Hunting  game,  other  than  buffalo,  along  the  Santa  Fe 
trail  at  that  date  was,  to  one  attached  to  a  train  and  depend- 
ent upon  its  movements,  necessarily  confined  to  a  narrow 
scope  of  country  on  either  side  of  the  road,  within  a  mile 
or  two.  It  was  impossible  to  know  at  what  moment  one 
might  meet  with  Indians  and  be  attacked  by  them.  At  that 
time  of  the  year  the  game  was  kept  back  from  the  high- 
way by  the  frequent  passage  of  trains,  while  a  few  miles  off 
from  the  road  there  was  no  trouble  to  find  antelope  and 
white-tail  deer.  I  was  compelled  to  hunt  alone  or  not  at  all. 
My  friend  Keece  had  become  too  much  worn  out  by  the 
travel  and  his  continued  ill  health  to  take  much  interest  in 
hunting,  while  Captain  Chiles  was  kept  busy  with  his  du- 
ties about  the  train.  But  I  was  continually  on  the  lookout 
for  game;  I  rarely  traveled  the  road,  but  would  ride  a  mile 
or  so  from  it  on  one  side  or  the  other,  always  carrying  my 
holster  pistols,  and  usually,  in  addition  the  big  shotgun  be- 
longing to  Captain  Chiles. 

My  buffalo  horse  seemed  to  have  a  very  clear  understand- 
ing of  travel  over  the  plains,  having,  as  before  stated,  the 
iexperience  of  a  journey  from  California  to  Missouri  the 
previous  year.  He  seemed  to  have  an  instinctive  idea  of  the 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  53 

locality  of  the  train,  even  when  it  was  traveling,  and  often 
when  riding  him  a  mile  or  more  from  the  road  and  com- 
pletely out  of  sight,  when  given  the  rein  he  would  instantly 
change  his  course  in  the  proper  direction  to  intercept  the 
train.  , 

Biding  thus  alone  on  onei  occasion,  some  distance  ahead 
of  the  train,  I  saw  a  large  gray  wolf  galloping  across  my 
course,  going  towards  the  road.  I  determined  to  give  him 
a  chase,  and  after  him  I  went.  The  wolf  increased  his 
speed,  and,  urging  my  horse  to  his  best,  we  went  flying 
across  the  road  100  yards  in  front  of  the  train  and  in  full 
view  of  it.  As  we  flew  by,  the  entire  company  of  teamsters 
gave  us  an  encouraging  whoop,  but  whether  designed  for 
me  or  the  wolf  I  was  not  able  to  determine.  I  had  followed 
the  big  fellow  closely  for  a  mile,  emptying  at  him,  if  not 
in  him,  the  entire  twelve  chambers  of  my  revolvers.  At  one 
time  I  got  within  twenty  feet  of  him,  but  not  having  any 
•ammunition  for  reloading  with  me,  nor  time  for  recharging 
my  pistols  if  I  had,  he  disappeared  over  the  ridge  and  I 
saw  nothing  more  of  him. 

Many  days  passed  and  many  weary  miles  were  traveled 
of  which  I  have  no  remembrance  whatever  and  I  am  only 
attempting  to  relate  such  adventures  as  were  indelibly  im-' 
pressed  upon  my  memory,  the  frosts  of  forty-three  winters 
having  passed  over  my  head  since  this  journey  was  made. 
I  cannot  recollect  what  I  thought  of  the  probability  of  those 


54  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

vast  plains  ever  being  occupied  or  cultivated  as  homes  for 
white  people. 

Whetstone  creek,  which  the  road  crossed  near  the  boun- 
dary of  JSTew  Mexico,  was  one  of  the  localities  of  special  in- 
terest to  me.  Back  on  my  father's  farm  in  Missouri  I  had 
often  whetted  iny  pocketknife  on  a  stone  belonging  to  my 
old  overseer  friend  who  said  he  had  obtained  it  on  this 
creek.  But  none  of  our  trainmen  were  familiar  with  the 
route  or  the  locality,  or  could  tell  me  where  the  whetstone 
quarry  was  to  be  found,  and  I  was  disappointed  in  not  be- 
ing able  to  discover  it  after  making  a  diligent  search  for  it. 
And  now  the  spurs  of  the  Batton  mountains  loomed  up  in 
the  distance  ahead  of  us,  a  novel  and  interesting  sight  to 
many  of  the  company,  some  of  whom  had  never  seen  any 
greater  elevation  than  the  big  hills  of  Western  Missouri,  and 
the  drivers  swore  and  cracked  their  whips  with  renewed  vigor 
and  animation. 


XI. 

ARRIVAL  AT  LAS  VEGAS. 

Crossing  the  Ocata  on  the  dry  bed  of  it  we  were  ap- 
proaching Apache  hill,  on  the  branch  of  the  road  leading  to 
Fort  Union,  the  ascent  of  which  was  quite  difficult  to  heav- 
ily loaded  wagons.  The  hill  was  barely  visible  in  the  dis- 


Over  the  Santa  FG  Trail,  1857.  55 

tance  and  the  hour  nearly  noon  when  we  first  came  in  sight 
of  it.  It  was  quite  hot  under  the  noonday  sun  and  we  could 
see  the  white  sheets  of  a  train  of  wagons  descending  the 
hill.  Soon  afterwards  Captain  Chiles  and  I,  riding  ahead 
of  our  train,  met  the  wagonmaster  of  this  train,  a  sandy- 
haired,  red-faced  fellow,  sullen,  morose  and  non-communi- 
cative. He  seemed  inclined  to  pass  us  without  speaking, 
but  Captain  Chiles  saluted  him,  and  he  halted  for  a  few  mo- 
ments. The  man  appeared  to  be  sick,  and  as  Captain  Chiles 
afterwards  said  he  could  scarcely  "pull  a  word  out  of  him 
with  a  log  chain." 

The  captain  asked  him,  "How  is  the  grass  about  the 
foot  of  Apache  hill?"  when  he  answered,  "Well,  sir,  it's 
damned  scase." 

Ten  miles  before  reaching  Fort  Union  we  stopped  at 
a  ranch,  where  we  found  an  abundance  of  good  milk  and 
butter,  kept  in  a  well  arranged  spring  house,  supplied  with 
Iwater  by  a  cold  and  bold  spring  running  out  of  the  foot  of 
the  mountain.  The  milk  was  kept  in  large  open  tin  pans, 
set  in  a  ditch  extending  around  the  room,  constructed  so 
as  to  allow  a  continual  flow  of  cool  water  about  the  pans. 
The  spring  house  was  built  of  adobe  or  sod  bricks.  This 
ranch  supplied  the  fort  with  milk  and  butter. 

Fort  Union  had  no  appearance  of  a  fortified  place  then ; 
there  was  nothing  more  than  substantial  and  comfortable 
barracks,  stores  and  warehouses.  But  the  place  had  a  look 


56  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

of  military  precision,  neatness  and  cleanliness  about  it  not 
seen  elsewhere  in  New  Mexico. 

At  this  place  our  train  was  cut  in  twain ;  one-half  of  it, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Chiles,  went  on  to  Mora, 
the  other  half  was  sent  to  Las  Vegas,  in  charge  of  the  assist- 
ant wagonmaster,  Eice.  Beece  and  I  decided  to  accompany 
that  part  going  to  Las  Vegas. 

On  the  routei  to  Las  Vegas  we  found  a  large  adobe  ranch 
house,  probably  a  hundred  feet  square  and  sixteen  feet  high, 
the  solid  walls  being  without  openings  on  the  outside,  except 
two  large  doors.  The  ventilation  and  light  were  secured 
through  the  openings  inside  the  hollow  square.*  There  was 
an  extensive  buckskin  tailoring  establishment  there,  where 
they  were  manufacturing  quantities  of  buckskin  clothes  of 
various  patterns,  and  I  was  surprised  at  the  skill  displayed 
in  making  the  garments.  The  clothes  were  made  to  fit  with 
tailor-like  precision  and  exactness.  Clothes  of  buckskin 
were  generally  worn  at  that  time  by  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Mexico,  by  the  natives  especially. 

As  we  drew  near  Las  Vegas  we  noted  that  the  ''bot- 
toms" of  the  little  creek  running  near  the  town  were  cul- 
tivated in  corn,  with  occasional  patches  of  vegetables,  the 
land  uninclosed  by  fences,  but  flanked  by  irrigating  ditches 
supplying  the  necessary  water,  and  the  crops  were  look- 
ing remarkably  well,  although  the  weather  had  been  dry  for, 
some  weeks.  We  found  it  necessary  to  have  a  close  watch 
kept  on  our  cattle  while  we  were  near  these  cultivated  and 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  57 

unfenced  fields.  Las  Vegas  was  a  compactly  built  little 
town  of  probably  two  or  three  hundred  inhabitants,  the 
houses  for  the  most  part  built  of  adobe  bricks  or  tufts  of 
sod,  with  a  corral  in  the  rear.  The  herds  of  sheep,  goats 
and  burros  were  driven  in  about  sunset  and  fastened  up  for 
the  night  in  these  corrals,  from  which  they  wetre  driven  out 
early  in  the  morning  to  graze  during  the  day,  under  the  con- 
stant eye  of  the  herder,  who  accompanied  each  band. 

We  remained  one  day  only  at  Las  Vegas.  The  wagons 
were  unloaded,  the  freight  being  delivered  to  the  consignees, 
and  we  turned  about  and  started  on  our  homeward  journey. 

While  at  Las  Vegas  Eeece  purchased  three  goats,  think- 
ing that  their  milk  would  be  beneficial  to  him.  They  fur- 
nished a  bountiful  supply  of  milk,  and  very  rich  milk  it 
was,  too,  though  of  a  rather  strong  and  disagreeable  taste 
and  odor.  He  failed,  however,  to  realize  any  great  benefit 
from  its  use,  so  far  as  I  remember. 

Our  first  noonday  camp  after  we  left  Las  Vegas  was 
near  a  ranch,  and  as  we  were  resting  under  the  shade  of  the 
wagons  after  dinner,  the  owner  of  the  ranch,  a  native  New 
Mexican,  visited  us,  with  a  good  looking  shepherd  dog  fol- 
lowing him.  Keece  expressed  admiration  for  this  dog, 
which,  the  Mexican  declared,  was  excellently  well  trained 
for  herding,  easily  controlled  and  a  valuable  animal  in  other 
respects.  After  considerable  negotiation,  the  Mexican 
agreed  to  sell  the  dog  to  Reece  for  two  plugs  of  tobacco. 
Eeece  procured  a  rope,  and  the  Mexican  tied  the  dog  to  the 


58  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

rear  axle  of  one  of  the  freight  wagons,  soon  afterward  tak- 
ing his  departure  for  his  ranch  a  mile  or  more  distant. 
Shortly  the  dog  became  restless  and  made  efforts  to  get  loose. 

The  teamsters  began  to  laugh  at  Eeece  about  the  un- 
certain character  of  his  neivviy  acquired  property,  saying 
that  th  Mexican  well  knew  that  he  could  not  keep  the  dog, 
and  that  he  would  soon  make  his  escape  to  return  home. 
Eeece  declared  that  he  would  prevent  this  at  least  and  went 
to  a  wagon  and  brought  forth  a  gun.  Standing  the  gun 
against  the  wagon  under  which  the  dog  was  fastened,  Eeece 
iresumed  his  efforts  to  enjoy  a  noonday  siesta  under  a  neigh- 
boring wagon.  He  was  aroused  by  one  of  the  (Mvers,  who 
shouted  to  him  that  his  dog  was  running  off  in  the  direc- 
tion of  his  home.  The  dog  had  gotten  two  or  three  hun- 
dred yards  away,  ascending  a  ridge  in  a  gallop  when  Eeece 
jumped  up,  seized  the  gun,  leveled  it  at  the  dog  and  fired. 
To  his  surprise,  no  less  than  oars,  the  dog  fell  dead. 

We  rejoined  the  other  part  of  the  train  at  a  camp  near 
Fort  Union,  and  here  in  this  camp  wei  remained  for  several 
days. 

Captain  Chiles  was  desirous  of  selling  a  part  of  the  cat- 
tle, as  the  whole  were  not  needed  to  convey  the  empty  wag- 
ons on  the  return  journey,  and  made  frelquent  visits  to  the 
fort  in  his  efforts  to  dispose  of  the  cattle.  One  evening  he 
announced  that  he  had  made  a  sale  of  about  one-half  of 
the  cattle.  The  following  morning  a  prosperous  looking 
gentleman  of  consequential  air  and  mien  rode  up  to  our 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  59 

camp  and  was  introduced  as  the  purchaser  of  our  cattle.  He 
was  riding  a  fine  horse,,  with  saddle  and  other  equipment  to 
correspond.  Among  his  other  attractive  features,  I  can  rec- 
ollect a  large  flask  of  brandy  which  he  carried  lashed  to  the 
front  of  his  saddle,  the  flask  being  protected  by  a  wicker 
jacket.  Generous  gentleman,  as  he  proved,  the  first  thing 
he  said  after  the;  usual  salutation  was  an  invitation  to  sam- 
ple the  contents  of  this  flask,  and  this  invitation  the  com- 
mon politeness  of  the  plains  prevented  us  from  declining. 
We  found  his  brandy  excellent,  and  its  effect  produced  a 
lasting  remembrance  of  the  personality  of  the  gentleman 
himself. 

The  cattle  purchased  by  him  were  cut  out  and  separated 
from  the  others.  The  owner  said  he  intended  driving  them, 
to  some  point  in  N~ew  Mexico,  a  considerable  distance  from 
there.  On  inquiring  for  some?  hands  whom  he  could  employ 
to  drive  them  to  their  destination,  one  or  two  were  found 
in  the  party  who  would  accept  the  service  offered,  and  tneu 
some  one  suggested  that  a  job  of  this  sort  would  suit  "Skee- 
sicks,"  who  was  still  hanging  to  the  train. 

"Skeesicks,"  with  apparent  reluctance,  accepted  the  serv- 
ice and  wages  offered,  and  in  a  few  moments  afterwards  left 
us  forever.  I  could  not  avoid  feeling  sorry  for  him,  as  he 
slowly  passed  from  our  view,  trudging  along  on  foot  behind 
the  herd  of  cattle.  We  never  heard  of  him  afterwards. 

While  at  this  camp  a  Mexican  youth,  about  16  years,  of 
age,  came  to  the  train  and  asiked  permission  to  accompany 


60  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

us  to  the  "States."  He  was  a  bright,  active  boy,  able  to 
understand  and  speak  English  in  some  degree,  appearing 
immensely  pleased  when  Captain  Chiles  told  him  that  he 
might  come  along  with  us  if  he  desired. 

During  the  night  some  of  the  trainmen  ascertained  that 
he  was  a  "peon,"  consequently  having  no  right  to  leave  the 
territory.  When  the  train  started  the  next  morning,  at  file 
suggestion  of  the  men,  he  secreted  himself  in  one  of  the 
covered  wagons.  Before  noon,  however,  two  horsemen  were 
seen  following  us,  coming  on  in  a  fast  gallop.  They  were 
officers  of  the  law,  armed  with  pistols  and  a  writ  for  the 
arrest  of  the  boy.  The  trainmen  pretended  to  be  ignorant 
of  his  presence  with  the  train,  but  the  officers  said  they 
knew  he  was  with  the  train,  demanding  of  Captain  Chiles 
that  he  stop  the  train  so  they  might  search  for  him.  In 
order  to  avoid  being  subjected  to  the  charge  of  resisting  the 
officers,  the  captain!  ordered  a  halt.  The  officers  soon  dis- 
covered the  boy  concealed  beneath  some  bedding,  dragged 
him  out  and  put  him  on  one  of  their  horses.  The  poor 
boy  protested  with  all  his  might  against  being  takdn  back, 
crying  all  the  while  in  a  distressing  manner,  arousing  the 
feelings  of  the  trainmen  until  they  were  about  to  declare 
war  on  the  officers,  but  Captain  Chiles  said  it  would  not  do 
to  resist  the  civil  authorities.  So  the  little  fellow  was  car- 
ried back  to  his  condition  of  slavery  or  peonage  as  it  was 
called  by  the  officers. 

At  noon  that  day  our  camp  was  near  the  base  of  a  mound 
of  broken  rock,  perhaps  a  hundred  feet  high,  rounded  to 


THE  OFFICERS  DRAGGED  HIM  OUT. 


62  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

a  sharp  pinnacle  at  its  apex.  The  mound  supported  hardly 
a  bit  of  vegetation  on  its  sides,  which  were  nearly  inacces- 
sible. The  goats  purchased  by  Eeece  had  been  driven  along 
in  the  cavayard,  apparently  reconciled  to  their  new  mode  of 
life  and  daily  travel.  That  day,  as  the  wagons  were  moving 
out  of  corral,  Eeece  missed  his  goats.  I  joined  him  in  a 
search  for  them,  riding  about  over  the  plain,  and  we  had 
about  reached  the  conclusion  that  they  had  run  away.  Just 
then  as  the  wagons  were  moving  from  the  corral  one  of  the 
teamsters  shouted  to  Eeece,  "There  are  your  goats!"  point- 
ing to  the  summit  of  the  steep  mound  of  rock. 

Sure  enough,  there  were  the  three  goats,  standing  in  a 
row  on  the  topmost  rock,  looking  at  us  with  the  utmost  sat- 
isfaction and  composure.  Nothing  but  a  goat  could  either 
ascend  or  descend  the  declivity,  so  Eeece  and  I  remained 
until  they  thought  proper  to  come  down.  This  they  did  in 
the  course  of  an  hour,  when  we  drove  them  on,  overtaking 
the  train  as  it  went  into  camp  at  nightfall. 


XII. 

IN  PERIL  OF  INDIANS. 

The  return  journey  was  for  the  most  part  uneventful, 
but  with  empty  wagons  we  could  travel  more  rapidly. 

On  our  reaching  the  crossing  of  the  Arkansas  we  found 
there  a  company  of  dragoons,  and  the  officeirs  informed  us 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  63 

that  they  had  been  fighting  and  chasing  the  Cheyennes  all 
summer,  having  just  halted  there  in  following  one  band  of 
these  Indians  to  the  Arkansas  river.  They  had  been  forced 
to  abandon  their  provision  wagons  some  days  before  we  saw1 
them,  and  were  almost  entirely  out  of  food.  The  artillery 
had  also  been  left  behind  two  or  three  days'  march  down  the 
'Arkansas  river.  These  troops,  a  part  of  Colonel  Sumner^s 
regiment,  had  had  several  brushes  with  the  Cheyennes,  and 
captured  a  lot  of  horses  from  the  Indians.  The  soldiers, 
their  horses  and  equipments,  gave  every  evidence  of  hav- 
ing undergone  a  severe  campaign,  and  they  came  around 
our  camp  begging  for  something  to  eat,  tobacco  and  whisky, 
much  as  the  Indians  were  in  the  habit  of  doing.  But  our 
ability  to  relieve  their  wants  was  very  limited,  having  with 
us  only  supplies  enough  for  our  own  party  back  to  the 
settlements./ 

The  officers  said  that  it  would  be  hazardous  for  us  to  pro- 
ceed further,  advising  our  captain  to  remain  until  the  trains 
in  our  rear  could  get  up,  until  they  had  accumulated  to  at 
least  one  hundred  wagons  and  men,  when  we  would  be  strong 
enough  to  resist  any  attack  that  we  were  likely  to  be  sub- 
jected to.  ) 

Acting  on  this  advice,  we  remained  in  camp  several  days, 
until  five  or  six  trains  had  arrived  and  camped  in  our  im- 
mediate vicinity.  The  journey  was  then  resumed,  our  train 
taking  the  lead,  all  our  weapons  of  defense  being  put  in  as 
good  order  as  possible.  After  the  trains  were  under  way 


64  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

the  wagonmasters  of  those  behind  us,  to  the  number  of  ten 
or  a  dozen,  mounted  on  horsefe  and  mules,  would  ride  ahead 
to  join  Captain  Chiles,  Eeece  and  myself,  thus  forming  a 
lively  and  agreeable  company  of  companionable  men. 

As  we  were  thus  riding  along  down  the  level  bottom 
of  the  Arkansas,  some  distance  in  advance  of  the  trains 
away  to  our  right  a  mile  or  more,  out  near  the  bank  of  the 
river,  where  we  could  see  some  scattering  cottonwood  trees, 
we  observed  a  smoke  rising  from  a  camp  fire.  Some  one 
of  the  party  suggested  that  it  was  the  smoke  of  the  camp 
of  the  artillery  company,  of  which  we  had  been  told,  so  we 
rode  forward,  giving  little  more  attention  to  the  smoke  of 
the  camp  fire  that  went  curling  upward  among  the  cotton- 
wood.  When  we  had  reached  a  point  about  opposite  the 
smoke  there  suddenly  appeared  in  our  view  a  company  of 
some  fifty  horsemen,  riding  pell-mell  in  a  fast  gallop  to- 
wards us.  They  were  yet  too  far  off  to  be  distinctly  seen 
or  for  us  to  tell  what  mannetr  of  men  they  were.  In  another 
moment,  Captain  Chiles  exclaimed: 

"Men,  they  are  Indians !  Soldiers  don't  ride  in  that  dis- 
orderly manner.  Form  a  line  and  get  out  your  guns.  We 
are  in  for  it  I" 

Instantly  all  hands  obeyed  his  command,  forming  a  line, 
facing  the  enemy,  each  of  us  drawing  a  pistol.  The  lead 
wagons  of  our  train  were  just  barely  visible,  probably  two 
miles  from  us.  When  the  approaching  horsemen  saw  that 
we  had  formed  a  line  of  battle,  they  instantly  drew  rein, 


W         2! 


66  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

slackening  their  speed  to  a  walk,  but  kept  steadily  drawing 
nearer  us. 

In  a  few  minutes  our  anxiety  was  relieved  when  these 
horsemen  came  near  enough  for  us  to  see  that  they  were 
white  men,  not  Indians,  and,  after  all,  they  proved  to  be 
the  company  of  artillery,  mounted  on  some  Indian  horses 
that  had  lately  been  captureld  from  the  Cheyennes.  Under 
the  circumstances  it  was  not  at  all  strange  that  we  had  mis- 
taken them  for  hostile  Indians. 

The  next  morning  after  this  the  wagonmasters  of  these 
several  trains  came;  forward  as  usual,  and  we  set  out  to 
travel  in  advance  of  the  trains,  hoping  to  find  buffalo,  as 
we  had  again  reached  their  accustomed  range. 

I  had  the  only  real  good  buffalo  horse  in  the  company, 
but  his  speed  and  strength  we  found  considerably  lessened 
and  impaired  by  the  long  journey.  In  discussing  the  pros-* 
pects  of  finding  buffalo,  and  of  killing  one  for  a  supply  of 
fresh  meat,  which  we  were  all  very  eager  again  to  get,  Hines, 
an  assistant  wagonmaster  of  one  of  the  trains,  suggested  to 
me  that  I  should  use  his  pair  of  heavy  Coifs  army  revolvers, 
which,  ha  said,  carried  a  heavier  ball  and  were  more  effect- 
ive in  killing  buffalo  than  mine.  Although  I  was  somewhat 
doubtful,  I  exchanged  with  him.  We  had  ridden  forward 
but  a  few  miles  when  we  descried  a  herd  of  some  twenty 
buffalo,  in  the  distance.  The  understanding  being  that  I 
was  to  lead  off  in  this  chase.  I  put  spurs  to  my  horse,  the 
others  following.  There  were  several  young  cows  in  The 


Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857.  67 

band,  one  of  which  I  selected,  and  pressed  my  horse  for- 
wards. In  a  few  moments  we  were  going  at  a  furious  rate 
of  speed,  and  my  prospect  of  success  was  good,  but  just  as 
I  was  leaning  forward,  with  pistol  in  my  right  hand,  in  the 
act  of  shooting  the  cow,  the  stirrup  leather  of  my  saddle 
suddenly  broke,  almost  precipitating  me  headlong  to  the 
ground,  but  I  escaped  falling  by  catching  around  the  horse's 
neck  with  my  left  arm ;  the  heavy  pistol  fell  to  the  ground. 
While  I  was  preparing  to  mend  the  stirrup  leather,  having 
'dismounted  for  that  purpose,  the  other  men  of  the  party 
rode  up,  the  buffalo,  meanwhile,  having  run  entirely  out  of 
sight. 

When  I  had  gotten  the  stirrup  repaired,  Captain  Chiles, 
noticing  that  I  was  a  good  deal  shaken  up  and  unnerved  by 
the  occurrence,  said  that  I  would  better  let  him  have  my 
horse  and  pistols,  which  I  readily  gave  up  to  him,  knowing 
that  there  was  no  man  on  the  plains  who  excelled  him  in 
a  buffalo  chase  or  one  more  sure  to  provide  fresh  meat.  So 
he  mounted  my  horse,  and  I  got  upon  his  mule,  and  we  all 
started  off  in  the  direction  the  buffalo  had  gone.  We  had 
by  that  time  reached  a  section  of  rolling  country  on  the 
"cut-off"  across  the  bend  of  the  Arkansas,  lying  in  great 
ridges,  with  valleys  intervening.  As  we  got  to  the  top 
of  one  of  these  ridges  Captain  Chiles,  who  was  in  front, 
exclaimed :  "Look  yonder  at  that  band  of  elk !" 

There  they  were,  perhaps  two  hundred  of  them,  grazing  in 
a  valley  a  milei  distant.  I  immediately  claimed  my  horse, 


68  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

for  I  did  not  want  to  miss  the  opportunity  of  killing  an 
elk,  but  the  captain  merely  laughed  at  me  and  started  down 
toward  the  elk  in  a  gallop.  The  elk,  seeing  him,  were  soon 
all  in  motion,  running  in  a  great  mass,  stirring  up  a  cloud 
of  dust,  soon  passing  from  our  view  around  the!  point  of  the 
ridge  on  the  farther  side  of  the  valley,  Captain  Chiles  fok 
lowing  them  closely,  the  horse  at  full  speed.  After  they 
had  gotten  out  of  sight  of  us  we  heard  thei  report  of  his  pis- 
tol, two  or  three  times,  and  our  entire  party  followed  in  his 
wake  until  we  had  reached  the  point,  where  we  thought  the 
firing  had  occurred.  Finding  neither  Chiles  nor  any  dead 
or  wounded  elk  the  men  all,  except  Eeece  and  I,  refused  to 
go  further,  and  turned  about  towards  the  road.  Eeece,  who 
was  riding  his  big  gray  horse,  and  I,  on  the  mule,  continued 
riding  in  the  direction  we  supposed  Chiles  had  gone,  until 
we  had  ridden  perhaps  four  miles,  when  I  began  to  feel  a 
little  uneasy,  expressing  a  disinclination  to  go  further,  as  I 
was  riding  a  worn-out,  leg-weary  mule,  with  nothing  but 
a  belt  pistol  in  the  way  of  arms,  and  being  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  hostile  Indians.  Eeece  said  to  me:  "You  remain 
here  while  I  ride  to  the  top  of  that  high  mound  yonder/' 
pointing  to  a  hill  a  mile  farther  on.  "When  I  get  there," 
he  said,  "if  then  I  can  neither  hear  nor  see  anything  of 
Chiles  or  the  elk  I  will  return  here  for  you." 

Eeece  rode  away.  I  remaineid  alone  for  an  hour  or  more 
— the  danger  of  the  situation  made  it  appear  much  longer 
than  it  really  was,  no  doubt — and  finally  1  saw  Eeece  and 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  t$9 

Chiles  coming,  greatly  to  my  relief.  They  were  in  good 
spirits,  and  as  they  rode  up  Chiles  said  they  had  killed  the 
biggest  elk  that  ever  ran  on  the  plains,  giving  me  an  account 
of  his  capture  in  detail  as  we  rode  back. 


XIII. 

CAPTAIN  CHILES'  CHASE. 

When  Eeece  had  got  to  the  top  of  the  mound  he  saw 
Captain  Chiles,  sitting  on  a  horse,  holding  by  a  rope  a  huge 
bull  elk.  The  elk  stood  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep,  narrow 
ditch,  ten  feet  deep,  with  banks  almost  perpendicular,  so 
steep  that  he  was  unable  to  get  up  them  or  out  of  the  ditch 
to  assail  his  captor.  Captain  Chiles,  when  he  first  caught  up 
with  the  band  of  elk,  had  made  an  effort  to  kill  one  with 
the  pistols,  but  for  some  reason  he  could  only  get  the  pis- 
tols to  fire  two  of  the  charges,  and  with  these  two  he  only 
wounded  a  cow  slightly,  not  enough  to  stop  her  from  run- 
ning. He  kept  after  the  band,  all  the  while  trying  to  get 
the  revolver  to  fire,  trying  every  chamber,  but  with  no  suc- 
cess. After  he  had  kept  up  the  chase  for  two  or  three  miles 
the  large  bull  elk,  being  very  fat,  got  too  tired  to  keep 
up  with  the  band,  but  trotted  along  behind,  in  fact,  so  far 
exhausted  that  Chiles  could  keep  up  with  him  with  his  horse 
in  a  trot.  The  captain  despaired  of  being  able  to  stop  one 


70  Over  the  Santa  F6  Trail,  1857. 

•with  the  pistols,  and,  finding  a  small  lariat  I  had  brought 
from  the  Kiowas  as  we  went  out,  on  my  saddle,  used  for 
picketing  my  horse,  resolved  to  try  the  plan  of  lassoing  the 
big  fellow. 

Being  an  expert  in  rope  throwing,  he  had  little  difficulty 
in  preparing  the  noose  or  getting  a  fastening  around  the  top 
prong  of  one  branch  of  the  elk's  great  antlers.  As  soon  as 
the  elk  found  he  was  restrained  by  the  rope  he  turned  about 
and  charged  on  Captain  Chiles  with  all  the  power  and  fury 
he  could  command,  and  twice  or  thrice  the  captain  was 
forced  to  cut  loose  from  him  in  order  to  escape  his  assaults. 
The  rope  was  long  enough  to  drag  on  the  ground  some  dis- 
tance behind  him,  so  that  the  captain  could  recover  hold  of 
it  without  dismounting,  reaching  down  and  picking  it  up  as 
the  bull  trotted  away  from  him.  He  kept  on  after  him  for 
some  distance,  occasionally  jerking  him  back,  and  worry- 
ing him  until  he  could  hardly  walk.  Coming  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  ditch,  washed  out  to  a  depth  of  ten  feet,  at  a 
point  a  few  yards  above,  he  managed  to  guide  the  animal, 
bewildered  as  he  was  by  the  heat,  together  with  the  violent 
and  prolonged  exercise,  into  it,  leading  or  driving  him  along 
up  the  ditch  until  he  got  him  in  between  the  high  banks  of  it 
to  a  place  where  thef  animal  could  not  get  at  him  however 
anxious  he  was  to  do  so. 

When  Eeece  arrived,  as  above  related,  he  found  Chiles 
sitting  there  on  the  horse  holding  the  end  of  the  rope,  but 
having  nothing  with  which  to  kill  the  animal,  not  even  a 


Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857.  71 

pocket  pistol.  Eeece  had  with  him  a  belt  revolver,  and,  under 
the  directions  of  Chiles,  he  carefully  crawled  to  the  edge  of 
the  ditch  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the  elk's  head  and  killed 
him  with  a  couple  of  shots  in  the  forehead. 

The  bull  had  not  been  wounded  by  Chiles,  and  no  one 
but  a  veritable  daredevil  as  he  was  would  have  undertaken 
the  job  of  lassoing  an  elk  under  such  circumstances  as  he 
did.  But  Chiles  was  a  stranger  to  fear. 

Chiles,  Eeece  and  I  got  to  the  camp  about  2  o'clock, 
near  six  miles  from  where  the  elk  was  killed.  After  din- 
ner we  went  out  with  pack  mules  and  the!  necessary  hatch- 
ets and  butcher  knives,  and  two  of  the  drivers,  to  butcher 
the  elk.  The  animal  was  a  splendid  specimen  of  his  kind, 
supporting  a  magnificent  pair  of  antlers,  fully  hardened  and 
developed,  and  was  fatter  than  any  other  animal  of  the  deer 
kind  I  have  seen,  before  or  since.  We  butchered  and  brought 
to  camp  on  the  pack  mules  every  part  of  his  carcass,  includ- 
ing the  antlers.  The  latter  were  brought  home  to  Jackson 
county.  We  feasted  on  the  flesh  of  the  fat  elk  for  several 
days,  and  my  recollection  is  that  I  never  tasted  better  meat. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  journey  was  uneventful,  the 
entire  party  remaining  with  the  train  until  we  were  within 
eighty  miles  of  the  state  line  of  Missouri.  Then,  in  com- 
pany with  Captain  Chiles,  I  started,  before  daylight,  to  make 
a  forced  march  to  Westport.  We  rode  forty  miles  before  we 
halted  for  breakfast,  obtaining  it  at  a  settler's  cabin  in  the 
vicinity  of  Black  Jack,  arriving  in  Weistport  late  in  the 


72  Over  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  1857. 

evening,  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  feeling  very  will- 
ing to  rest  once  more  in  a  comfortable  house  and  bed. 

I  saw  my  friend  Eeece  about  a  year  after  he  had  returned 
to  his  home  in  Missouri  stall  making  a  fight  for  life,  but 
during  the  second  year  he  struck  his  flag  and  made  a  final 
surrender. 

At  Westport  the  drivers  were  paid  off  and  disbanded, 
but  I  was  not  present  to  witness  the  separation  of  the  com- 
pany that  had  formed  a  companionship,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, during  this  long  and  tiresome  journey  across  the 
plains.  Doubtless  nearly  all  of  themi,  in  the  vernacular  of 
the  Western  mountains,  have  "crossed  over  the  range." 


Lewis  &  Clark's  Route  Reiraveied. 

Tbe  Upper  Missouri  in  1858. 


BY 

W.  B.  NAPTON. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

In  1858,  under  existing  treaties  with  the  western  In- 
dian tribes,  the  national  Government  sent  out  to  them 
annually  large  consignments  of  merchandise.  The  su- 
perintendent of  Indian  affairs,  whose  office  was  in  St. 
Louis,  chartered  a  steamboat  to  transport  these  annu- 
ities to  all  the  tribes  in  the  country  drained  by  the  Mis- 
souri— beginning  with  the  Omahas  and  Winnebagoes  in 
Nebraska  and  ending  with  the  Blackfoot,  at  the  base 
of  the  Kocky  Mountains,  around  the  sources  of  the  Mis- 
souri. Nearly  one-half  of  the  cargo  of  this  boat,  how- 
ever, consisted  of  the  trading  merchandise  of  Frost,  Todd 
&  Company,  a  fur-trading  concern,  whose  headquarters 
were  at  St.  Louis,  and  whose  trading  posts  were  estab- 
lished along  the  Missouri  from  Yankton  to  Fort  Benton. 


74  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

The  whole  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  then 
north  of  Nebraska  was  without  any  legal  name  or  des- 
ignation; at  least  there  were  no  such  territories  as  Da- 
kota or  Montana  shown  on  the  maps.  At  that  time,  and 
for  many  years  before,  a  steamboat  load  of  merchandise 
was  sent  up  as  far  as  Fort  Benton  by  the  American  Fur 
Company,  having  its  headquarters  also  in  St.  Louis,  and 
controlled  mainly  by  the  Chouteaus,  to  replenish  the 
stocks  of  their  trading  posts  along  the  river.  The  trade 
of  these  companies  was  exclusively  with  the  Indians,  the 
exchange  being  for  buffalo  robes,  furs  of  the  beaver, 
otter,  mink,  etc.,  used  for  making  clothes,  gloves,  etc. 
Colonel  Eedfield,  of  New  York,  was  the  agent  for 
the  Indian  tribes  along  the  river  from  the  Omalias  in 
Nebraska  to  Fort  Union  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow- 
stone. Colonel  Vaughn,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  was  agent 
for  the  Blackfoot  tribe,  and  that  year  had  special  orders 
to  take  up  to  his  agency,  on  Sun  Kiver,  forty  miles  above 
Fort  Benton  (now  Montana),  farming  implements,  horses 
and  oxen,  and  to  make  an  effort  to  teach  the  tribe  the 
peaceful  art  of  agriculture.  These  Blackfoot  Indians, 
however,  regarded  agriculture  a  good  deal  as  it  is  de- 
fined by  our  humorous  friend,  Josh  Billings,  who  de- 
nned it  as  "an  honest  way  of  making  a  d — md  poor  liv- 
ing." The  Indians  fully  sanctioned  and  concurred  in 
this  definition.  I  had  received  at  the  hands  of  Colonel 
Vaughn  the  appointment  of  attach^  to  his  agency, 


Lewis  and  Clartfs  Route  Eetraveled.  75 

pretty  nearly  a  sinecure,  but  affording  transportation 
from  St.  Louis  to  Fort  Benton  and  back,  if  I  choose 
to  come  back. 

The  boat  was  a  medium-sized  Missouri  Eiver  packet, 
nearly  new,  with  side  wheels  and  powerful  engines. 
Steamboating  on  the  Missouri  had  then  reached  the  high- 
est stage  of  prosperity.  A  line  of  splendidly  furnished 
and  equipped  passenger  boats  ran  from  St.  Louis  to  'St. 
Joseph,  providing  almost  every  comfort  and  luxury  a 
traveler  could  ask.  The  table  was  elegant  and  the  cui- 
sine excellent,  the  cabin  and  state-rooms  sumptuously 
furnished,  and  last  but  not  least,  there  was  always  a 
bar  where  any  kind  of  liquor  could  be  found  by  those 
who  preferred  it  to  Missouri  Eiver  water.  There  were 
good  facilities  for  card-playing  either  with  or  without 
money,  and  no  restraint  in  either  case.  There  was  usu- 
ally a  piano  in  the  cabin,  and  frequently  a  fair  band  of 
musicians  among  the  waiters  and  cabin-boys.  These 
great  passenger-boats  ran  all  night,  up  and  down  the 
most  treacherous  and  changeable  of  all  the  navigable 
streams.  To  be  a  first-class  pilot  on  the  Missouri  Eiver 
was  equivalent  to  earning  the  highest  wages  paid  in  the 
West  at  that  time.  The  chief  pilot  of  our  boat,  E.  B — , 
was  of  that  class.  Just  before  he  took  service  on  this 
boat  he  had  forfeited  a  contract  for  the  season  at  $1,000 
a  month  with  the  "Morning  Star/'  a  large  passenger- 
packet,  running  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Joseph,  from  the 


76  Lewis  and  Claris  Route  Retraveled. 

fact  that  he  was  on  one  of  his  periodical  sprees  when 
she  was  ready  to  embark  from  St.  Louis. 

After  the  boat  got  under  way,  I  spent  a  great  deal 
of  time  in  the  pilot-house  with  R.  B — ,  who  I  found  a 
man  of  fair  education  and  considerable  culture,  a  devotee 
of  Shakespeare,  quoting  or  reciting  page  after  page  of 
his  "Tragedies"  without  interruption  of  his  duties  at  the 
helm  of  the  boat,  a  position  requiring  great  courage  and 
steady  nerves.  R.  B —  knew  every  twist  and  turn  of 
the  channel  of  the  Missouri  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Jo- 
seph, knew  every  bar  where  the  river  was  either  cutting 
out  its  bed  or  filling  it  up,  knew  precisely  the  location 
of  every  snag  protruding  above  water,  and  of  many  that 
were  invisible  except  at  a  low  stage  of  water — in  short, 
knew  at  all  times,  night  or  day,  exactly  the  position  of 
the  boat  and  its  bearings. 

The  passengers  formed  a  motley  congregation.  The 
two  Indian  agents,  their  clerks  and  attaches,  the  agents, 
trappers  and  voyageurs  of  the  fur  companies,  mostly 
Canadian  Frenchmen  intermixed  with  Indians;  a  few, 
however,, were  native  Americans,  a  young  English  sports- 
man, Lace,  and  his  traveling  companion  from  Liverpool, 
going  up  to  the  mountains  to  kill  big  game.  A  young 
gentleman,  Mr.  Holbrook  from  New  England,  who  had 
just  graduated  at  Harvard  and  was  traveling  for  health, 
Carl  "VVimar,  an  artist  of  St.  Louis  whose  object  was  to 
get  pictures  of  the  Indians,  and  a  young  man  of  great 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  77 

genius  and  promise  in  his  profession,  a  captain,  two 
pilots,  two  engineers,  two  cooks,  cabin-boys,  etc.,  twenty 
regular  deck  hands  and,  in  addition  to  these,  about  sev- 
enty-five stout  laboring  men  to  cut  wood  to  supply  fuel 
for  the  boat's  furnaces  after  we  had  gotten  up  above 
the  settlements. 

We  commenced  cutting  wood  soon  after  passing  Oma- 
ha, although  we  found  occasional  piles  of  wood  already 
cut  on  the  river  bank  above  Sioux  City,  Iowa. 

There  were  no  female  passengers  and  the  boat  had 
been  stripped  of  carpets,  mirrors,  etc. 

Colonel  Eedfield  was  a  staid,  straight-laced  gentle- 
men from  the  East,  while  Colonel  Vaughn  was  a  jolly 
frolicsome  fellow  of  sixty  -  five  years,  who  had  been 
thoroughly  enjoying  western  life  among  the  Indians  on 
the  upper  Missouri  for  many  years,  and  no  matter  how 
late  at  night  the  bar  was  patronized,  the  following  morn- 
ing, when  one  would  enquire  as  to  the  state  of  his  health, 
he  would  answer  with  inimitable  gusto,  "Erect  on  my 
pasterns,  bold  and  vigorous." 

The  fur  company  men  were  nearly  all  Canadian 
Frenchmen,  some  of  them  having  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree of  Indian  blood  in  their  veins.  These  people  had 
come  down  from  their  trading  posts,  starting  just  as 
soon  as  the  ice  broke  up  in  the  river,  on  keel  or  flat- 
boats,  bringing  along  some  furs  and  peltries,  and  had 
reached  St.  Louis  in  time  to  spend  a  week  or  two  there. 


78  Lewis  and  Clartfs  Route  Eetravele3. 

Having  settled  with  the  fur  companies  at  headquarters 
in  the  city,  the  remainder  of  their  limited  contact  with 
civilization  would  be  spent  in  seeing  the  sights  of  the 
city. 

These  fur  traders,  trappers  and  voyageurs  formed  a 
class  now  extinct  in  the  United  States,  a  remnant  of 
them  yet  remaining  perhaps  in  British  America.  The 
boat  made  no  landings  except  for  fuel,  until  we  reached 
the  reservations  of  the  Omahas  and  Winnebagoes  in 
Nebraska. 

Not  long  after  embarking  from  St.  Louis,  a  game 
of  poker  was  arranged  and  started  among  these  trap- 
pers and  played  on  a  good-sized  round  table  made  es- 
pecially for  this  purpose,  such  a  one  as  every  passenger- 
boat  on  the  Missouri  Eiver  was  then  provided  with.  The 
game  was  kept  going  a  great  part  of  the  time,  until 
we  reached  Fort  Union  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yellowstone, 
the  players  having  then  been  thinned  out  by  departure 
from  the  boat  at  the  different  forts  as  we  passed  up. 
These  men  were  all  friends  or  acquaintances  of  long 
standing,  and  while  they  played  with  money,  no  one 
seemed  to  care  particularly  about  his  losses  or  winnings, 
in  other  words,  there  were  no  real  gamblers  in  the  party, 
the  stakes  being  only  such  as  they  could  loose  without 
repining,  or  which  is  still  more  difficult,  such  as  they 
could  gain  without  undue  exultation.  The  conversation 
between  them  was  really  more  interesting  than  the  game. 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  79 

They  could  all  speak  English  and  French  and  a  half- 
dozen  Indian  tongues,  making  their  conversation  and 
dialect  in  the  poker  game  singularly  interesting. 

Pappineau  was  one  of  the  poker  players,  and  his  sta- 
tion was  Fort  Berthold.  He  was  a  good-natured,  viva- 
cious, volatile  Canadian  Frenchman,  a  general  favorite, 
but  not  possessing  the  required  level-headedness  to  play 
a  good  game  of  poker.  His  finances  were  running  low 
even  before  he  left  St.  Louis,  and  in  consequence  of 
this,  he  found  it  necessary  every  few  days  to  withdraw 
from  the  game.  His  presence  and  talk  were  highly  ap- 
preciated by  the  other  players,  and  on  these  occasions 
it  was  quite  in  keeping  with  the  existing  state  of  good 
fellowship  among  them  to  notice  someone  "stake"  Pap- 
pineau with  five  or  ten  dollars,  without  any  embarrass- 
ing stipulations  for  its  return,  in  order  that  he  might 
resume  his  place  in  the  game.  On  reaching  Fort  Ber- 
thold Pappineau  took  pride  in  bringing  his  squaw  on 
board  the  boat,  presenting  her  to  those  among  us  who 
were  strangers,  and  he  had  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of 
her,  as  she  was  one  of  the  best-looking  and  neatest  In- 
dian women  we  saw  on  this  journey. 

Carl  F.  Wimar,  the  gifted  St.  Louis  painter,  was 
making  his  first  trip  up  the  Missouri  to  get  a  look  at 
the  Indians.  He  was  a  tall,  slim,  lithe  man  of  thirty, 
a  swarthy  complexion  resembling  a  Spaniard  rather 
than  a  German,  quick,  active  and  indefatigable  in  the 

7m 


80  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

prosecution  of  his  work.  When  we  got  to  the  Indians 
he  was  always  on  the  alert  for  the  striking  figures  among 
them.  On  reaching  the  Indians  the  agent  would  invite 
them  to  a  council,  held  in  the  cabin  of  the  boat.  On 
these  occasions  Wimar  would  make  pencil  sketches  of 
the  assembled  Indians,  and  he  did  this  work  with  great 
rapidity  and  dexterity.  He  was  also  equipped  with  a 
camera  and  ambrotype  materials,  and  could  sometimes 
induce  the  Indians  to  let  him  get  pictures  of  this  sort, 
but  usually  they  were  averse  to  being  looked  at  through 
the  camera.  On  one  occasion  above  Fort  Pierre  while 
the  boat  was  tied  up  swinging  around  against  a  bluff 
bank  about  the  same  height  with  the  guards  of  the  boat, 
a  great  big  Indian  came  creeping  up  through  the  wil- 
lows, squatting  down  on  the  bank  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  boat.  He  was  most  ornately  and  elaborately 
dressed,  completely  covered  from  head  to  foot  with  .gar- 
ments of  dressed  skins,  profusely  ornamented  with 
garniture  of  beads,  fringe,  etc.,  and,  as  we  afterwards 
ascertained,  was  a  famous  "medicine  man/'  On  his  head 
an  immense  bonnet  ornamented  with  feathers,  beads, 
etc.,  with  a  leather  strap  forming  a  sort  of  tail  to  the 
bonnet,  strung  with  circular  plates  of  silver,  reaching 
down  behind  almost  to  the  ground  when  standing  erect. 
Wimar  began  preparations  for  taking  his  ambrotype, 
thinking  he  might  get  it  unobserved,  but  as  soon  as  he 
began  looking  through  the  camera  at  him  the  Indian 


Lewis  and  Clartfs  Route  Retraveled.  81 

jumped  up,  evincing  immediately  his  opposition  to  the 
process,  at  once  drawing  an  arrow  from  his  quiver,  and 
by  his  hostile  demonstrations  and  talk  made  Wimar 
understand  that  he  would  not  submit.  Then  Wimar 
undertook  to  show  him  that  he  meant  no  harm  what- 
ever, exhibiting  some  pictures  he  had  taken  of  other 
Indians,  but  he  seemed  unable  to  understand  him  and 
soon  disappeared  from  view  through  the  willow  bushes 
lining  the  river  bank. 

Carl  Frederick  Wimar  was  born  in  Germany,  but 
brought  to  this  country  by  his  parents  in  infancy,  and, 
at  an  early  age,  disclosed  his  artistic  temperament  and 
talent.  Beturning  to  Germany,  he  studied  under  the 
great  painter  Luetze,  the  painter  of  the  celebrated  pict- 
ure at  Washington,  of  Washington  crossing  the  Dela- 
ware, copies  of  which  are  familiar  to  the  public.  Wimar 
afterwards  painted  the  fresco  pictures  in  the  dome  of 
the  rotunda  of  the  St.  Louis  Court  House.  I  saw  him 
paint  a  portrait  of  Captain  Atkinson,  a  son  of  General 
Atkinson,  as  we  were  ascending  the  river,  in  the  cabin 
of  the  boat,  which  I  thought  denoted  marked  artistic 
skill  as  well  as  being  a  faithful  likeness  of  the  man. 
Poor  Wimar  died  with  consumption  five  years  later  at 
the  age  of  thirty-four,  ending  all  hopes  of  his  attaining 

»the  highest  eminence  of  fame  as  an  artist,  that  I  be- 
lieve he  must  surely  have  reached  had  he  lived  to  ma- 


82  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retravekd. 

ture  age.  He  was  naturally  an  amiable  gentleman  as 
well  as  a  great  artist. 

Along  the  Missouri  above  Omaha,  the  country  is 
mostly  prairie,  with  extensive  bottoms  on  one  side  or 
the  other,  beyond  the  bottoms  rising  gradually  as  it  re- 
cedes to  the  general  altitude  of  perhaps  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  back  a  mile  or  two  from  the  river,  the  absence 
of  timber  and  gently  undulating  topography  affording 
a  good  panoramic  view  from  the  deck  of  the  boat  as 
she  battled  upwards  against  the  strong  current. 

Just  below  Sioux  City,  a  small  town  at  that  time, 
our  pilot  pointed  out  Floyd's  Bluff,  an  oval-shaped  hill 
lying  at  right  angles  to  the  river,  its  base  washed  by  it, 
and  into  which  the  river  seemed  to  be  cutting  and  un- 
dermining. On  the  summit  of  this  bluff  we  could  see 
a  post  and  a  pile  of  loose  stones,  as  we  supposed  placed 
there  to  mark  the  grave  of  Sergeant  Floyd,  the  first 
American  soldier  to  lose  his  life  in  our  then  newly- 
acquired  Louisiana  Purchase.  Sergeant  Floyd  was  one 
of  the  soldiers  accompanying  Lewis  and  Clark's  explor- 
ing expedition,  who  died  and  was  buried  on  this  bluff 
as  they  passed  up  in  1804,  and  here  in  this  solitary  grave 
he  had  rested  more  than  half  a  century.  Even  then,  in 
1858,  there  was  no  house  or  settlement  in  sight,  and  I 
remember  to  this  day  the  melancholy  impression  in  my 
youthful  mind,  from  his  dying  and  being  buried  in  the 
wilderness  so  far  from  friends  and  relatives.  A  late 


Lewis  and  Clarkfs  Route  Retraveled.  83 

Congress  did  justice  to  his  memory,  performing  a  grace- 
ful and  becoming  act  in  authorizing  the  erection  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  of  a  monument  at  the  grave  of  Sergeant 
Floyd,  appropriating  $5,000  for  the  purpose. 

When  the  Indians  were  reached,  the  boat  being 
landed,  the  chiefs  would  assemble  in  the  main  cabin 
and  a  council  be  held  with  their  agent.  The  agent 
would  first  address  them,  his  speech  being  conveyed 
through  an  interpreter  connected  with  the  agency.  Fol- 
lowing we  would  have  many  speeches  from  the  Indians, 
many  of  whom  were  great  speakers,  if  not  orators,  forc- 
ible and  fluent,  speaking  without  embarrassment.  While 
these  discussions  were  in  progress,  the  artist  Wimar 
would  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  make  pencil 
sketches  of  the  most  prominent  among  them. 


84  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Fort  Randall  was  the  extreme  frontier  post  occupied 
by  troops.  The  fort  was  located  on  a  beautiful  site  on 
the  left  bank.  The  boat  landing  and  remaining  here 
awaited  the  preparations  of  an  officer,  Captain  Wessells, 
and  a  squad  of  soldiers  to  accompany  the  Indian  agents 
as  a  guard. 

The  officers'  quarters  and  barracks  occupied  two 
sides  of  a  quadrangle  of  about  ten  acres,  forming  a 
level  parade  ground  of  prairie  sod,  in  the  center  of  which 
stood  a  flag-staff  and  bandstand.  In  the  afternoon  a 
fine  regimental  band  regaled  us  with  delightful  music 
that  seemed  to  be  enjoyed  even  by  the  Indians  loafing 
around  the  fort.  The  officers  were  exceeding  courte- 
ous, showing  us  everything  of  interest  to  be  seen  about 
the  post,  and  when  Captain  Wessells  and  his  squad  of 
men,  twenty  soldiers,  were  ready  to  come  on  board  on 
our  departure,  we  were  heartily  and  boisterously  cheered 
by  a  multitude  of  officers  and  soldiers  assembled  on  the 
river  bank.  A  lieutenant  who  had  perhaps  imbibed  too 
freely  at  the  bar  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  throw- 
ing his  hat  into  the  river  as  the  boat  floated  away. 

Our  next  prominent  landing  was  Fort  Pierre,  the 
main  trading  post  of  the  great  Sioux  nation.  Here  we 
found  them  assembled  in  force,  the  entire  tribe  being 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  85 

present  except  one  band,  that  of  "Big  Head/'  await- 
ing the  arrival  of  Colonel  Redfield,  their  agent.  The 
river  bottom  above  the  fort  was  dotted  with  their  lodges 
as  far  as  we  could  see  from  the  hurricane  deck  of  the 
boat.  The  cabin  would  not  accommodate  even  the 
chiefs  of  .this  vast  assemblage,  so  the  council  was  held 
in  the  open  plain  a  short  distance  from  the  landing. 
The  chiefs  were  splendid-looking  fellows  when  they  got 
together,  hardly  one  among  them  less  than  six  feet  high. 
The  Sioux  then  mustered  a  larger  number  of  stalwart, 
fine-looking,  bronze-colored  men  than  could  be  assem- 
bled elsewhere  on  the  continent.  They  were  then  sub- 
divided into  eight  bands,  all  present  on  that  occasion 
except  the  band  of  "Big  Head/'  the  most  unfriendly 
and  hostile  of  the  Sioux.  The  previous  year  when  Col- 
onel Vaughn  was  their  agent,  Big  Head  got  mad  at 
him,  and  while  he  was  speaking,  jerked  the  spectacles 
off  his  nose,  declaring  that  he  allowed  no  man  "to  look 
at  him  with  two  pair  of  eyes." 

The  council  with  the  Sioux  continued  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  with  a  great  flow  of  Indian  eloquence.  A 
large  quantity  of  goods  was  brought  from  the  boats  and 
piled  in  heaps — enough,  it  seemed,  to  stock  a  large 
wholesale  house,  but,  in  accepting  the  goods,  the  Indians 
did  not  seem  to  show  any  pleasure,  much  less  gratitude; 
on  the  contrary,  they  looked  about  with  their  usual  in- 
difference as  if  they  felt  they  were  being  put  under 


86  Lewis  and  Claris  Route  Retraveled. 

obligations  not  easily  discharged.    But  in  truth  little  of 
their  talk  was  understood  by  me,  and  less  of  their  actions. 

The  fur  trade  at  Fort  Pierre  was  more  extensive 
than  at  any  other  point  on  the  river,  and  both  the  trad- 
ing companies  had  many  employees  residing  there,  and 
kept  large  stocks  of  goods.  Here  I  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  two  young  gentlemen,  natives  of  St.  Louis, 
members  of  the  forty  or  four  hundred  porcelain  of  that 
town,  now,  however,  on  duty  at  the  fort  directing  the 
Indian  trade,  and  each  supporting  two  squaws,  the  moth- 
ers of  several  children.  They  seemed  in  fine  health  and 
spirits,  and  enjoying  life  in  spite  of  isolation  from  re- 
fined society. 

As  the  boat  was  leaving  Fort  Pierre,  we  gained  a 
passenger  that  would  be  a  conspicuous  person  in  any 
crowd  from  his  unusual  good  looks.  Soon  after  coming 
on  board  he  joined  in  the  poker  game,  being  well  known 
to  all  the  upper  river  men.  A  man  of  twenty-five  years, 
tall,  well  built  and  remarkably  handsome,  a  quarter- 
blood  Sioux,  his  mother  being  a  half-blood,  his  father 
a  Frenchman  long  a  resident  of  the  Indian  country,  and 
who  had  given  this  son  all  the  advantages  of  a  good 
education  a^t  some  eastern  college.  He  was  affable, 
agreeable  and  gentlemanly  in  his  conduct,  and  I  shall 
never  forget  the  man  although  I  do  not  recall  his  name. 
He  remained  with  us  only  a  few  days,  stopping  off  at 
a  trading  post  some  distance  above  Fort  Pierre. 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  87 

At  Fort  Pierre  we  had  another  addition  to  our  pas- 
sengers in  the  person  of  Colonel  Vaughn's  Indian  wife 
and  children.  The  colonel,  heing  a  widower  when  ap- 
pointed by  President  Pierce  agent  for  the  Sioux,  married 
(according  to  the  custom  of  the  Indians)  a  member  of 
that  tribe,  and  in  the  early  spring  she  had  accompanied 
the  colonel  from  the  Blaekfoot  Agency,  down  the  river 
on  a  keel-boat,  to  Fort  Pierre,  where  she  had  remained 
with  some  relatives  awaiting  the  colonel's  return.  Be- 
ing thus  identified,  Colonel  Vaughn's  influence  and  pop- 
ularity with  the  Indians  was  greatly  increased,  and  in 
fact  so  thoroughly  established  that  he  remained  at  the 
agency  on  Sun  Kiver,  Montana,  surrounded  by  Indians, 
without  a  guard  and  with  perfect  safety. 

A  day  or  two  after  leaving  Fort  Pierre  the  boat  was 
signalled  by  Big  Head  and  his  band  who  came  approach- 
ing the  river  from  the  northeast,  across  a  vast  bottom 
prairie,  and  who  were  conspicuous  on  account  of  their 
absence  at  the  council  at  Fort  Pierre,  and  this  fact  was 
construed  by  the  agent  and  others  connected  with  .the 
Indians  as  an  indication  of  his  continued  unfriendliness 
or  possible  open  hostility.  The  boat  was  steaming  along 
against  a  strong  current,  but  near  the  shore,  when  this 
band  was  seen  approaching,  giving  signals  for  the  boat 
to  land,  which  the  agent  immediately  ordered.  While 
the  landing  was  being  made,  the  band,  several  hundred 
in  number,  had  approached  within  two  hundred  yards 


88  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

of  the  river  bank,  when  they  formed  an  irregular  line 
and  halting,  fired  towards  us  a  number  of  guns,  the  bul- 
lets from  which  went  whistling  through  the  air  above 
us.  For  a  while  it  was  thought  they  had  attacked  us, 
but  in  a  few  moments  it  was  discovered  that  this  dem- 
onstration of  fire  arms  was  intended  as  a  salute  for  the 
agent.  The  boat  having  landed,  Big  Head  and  his  sub- 
chiefs  and  warriors  came  on  board,  assembled  in  the 
cabin,  where  a  council  was  duly  organized.  Big  Head 
made  a  great  speech,  in  which  he  gave  some  excuse  for 
not  attending  the  general  council  at  Fort  Pierre,  claim- 
ing to  be  altogether  peaceful  and  friendly,  and  anxious 
to  accept  the  annuities  from  the  great  father  at  Wash- 
ington. Big  Head  was  a  heavy  built  ugly  Indian  unlike 
most  of  his  tribe,  who  were  generally  tall,  well  propor- 
tioned, fine-looking  fellows. 

Singularly  enough,  no  buffalo  were  seen  by  us  while 
ascending  the  river  in  1858.  Several  years  later,  in 
1865,  going  up  the  river  to  the  mines  in  Montana,  we 
saw  great  herds  of  them  along  the  river  for  more  than 
a  thousand  miles,  and  killed  as  many  as  were  needful 
to  supply  the  boats  with  meat.  They  were  frequently 
found  crossing  the  river  in  such  numbers  as  to  prevent 
navigation  of  the  boat.  Occasionally  we  would  approach 
them  massed  under  a  bluff-bank,  after  swimming  the 
river,  too  steep  to  allow  exit  from  the  water,  and  here 
they  would  stand  or  swim  around  in  the  water  (accumu- 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retravded.  89 

lated  here  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  river)  exhausted 
and  apparently  bewildered. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  we  were  in  need  of 
meat,  the  captain  would  land  the  boat  below  them,  the 
yawl-boat  would  be  lowered,  manned  with  oarsmen,  and 
a  man  provided  with  a  rope  and  butcher-knife,  and  rowed 
up  to  the  heads  of  the  animals  as  they  swam  around. 
The  rope  would  be  tied  around  the  horns,  the  buffalo 
-killed  with  the  butcher-knife,  the  carcass  floated  down 
to  the  boat,  when  the  hoisting  tackle  would  be  attached 
to  it  and  lifted  aboard,  where  it  was  handily  skinned  and 
quartered. 

After  we  passed  above  that  part  of  the  river  with 
which  the  pilots  were  thoroughly  acquainted,  it  was  nec- 
essary to  tie  up  at  night,  and  much  time  was  consumed 
in  cutting  wood.  The  boat  was  also  delayed  some  time 
at  Cedar  Island,  an  island  covered  with  a  dense  grove 
of  cedar,  growing  so  thick  that  the  trees  were  void  of 
branches  or  knots,  forming  excellent  smooth  poles  that 
were  used  for  various  purposes  at  the  trading  posts, 
and  a  great  quantity  of  these  poles  were  cut  and  brought 
on  board.  This  was  the  only  island  in  the  river  on 
which  the  growth  was  entirely  cedar,  and  on  this  island 
the  Indians  procured  their  lodge-poles. 

On  this  part  of  the  river  one  could  sit  on  the  deck 
of  the  boat  and  enjoy  the  vast  expanse  of  country,  grad- 
ually sloping  from  the  river  to  the  hills,  miles  in  ex- 


90  Lewis  and  Clartfs  Route  Retraveled. 

tent,  generally  monotonous  to  be  sure,  but  sublime  in 
its  vastness  and  simplicity.  Here  and  there  herds  of 
deer  and  antelopes  and  packs  of  wolves  went  scamper- 
ing off,  alarmed  by  the  noise  of  the  boat.  There  were 
two  large  wolf  hounds  on  board,  partly  greyhounds,  be- 
ing sent  up  to  one  of  the  trading  posts. 

On  one  occasion  while  the  boat  was  landed  to  cut 
wood  they  were  taken  on  shore  and  turned  loose  to 
chase  a  large  wolf,  seen  not  far  off.  The  dogs  put  after 
him,  soon  running  at  full  speed,  in  our  view  for  a  mile 
or  more,  overtaking  the  wolf,  but  declining  to  seize  him, 
not  having  been  yet  trained  for  coursing  wolves. 

At  the  Mandan  village,  on  the  right  bank,  just  above 
the  present  site  of  Bismarck,  we  found  the  first  abode  of 
Indians  having  the  resemblance  of  permanency,  tBeir 
houses  being  of  earth,  supported  by  timbers  on  the  in- 
side, rounded  up  like  a  big  potato  hill,  so  as  turn  the 
rain.  At  this  point  Lewis  and  Clark  spent  the  winter 
of  1804-5,  on  their  famous  journey  across  the  moun- 
tains to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  Bees,  some  distance 
above  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  had  houses  of  sim- 
ilar construction,  all  the  other  tribes  having  portable 
lodges  of  poles  and  rawhides. 

Forts  Berthold,  Clark  and  Union  were  the  main 
trading  posts  above,  and  at  each  of  these  we  found  num- 
bers of  Indians  collected  to  meet  the  agents,  and  at 
which  we  landed  of  course  to  hold  the  usual  council  and 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  91 

talk  followed  by  the  delivery  of  their  proper  share  of 
the  goods  provided  for  them.  As  we  approached  nearer 
the  British  possessions  the  Indians  were  pretty  well  sup- 
plied with  guns,  obtained  from  the  British  traders,  a 
short,  smooth,  bore  cheap  -  looking  affair,  but  handy 
enough  for  killing  buffalo  on  horseback,  while  running. 

Some  of  our  passengers  busied  themselves  during  our 
stay  at  these  places  in  purchasing  bows  and  arrows,  pipes, 
shields,  moccasins,  etc.,  to  be  preserved  as  mementoes  of 
the  Indians.  The  young  Englishman,  Mr.  Lace,  was 
particularly  active  in  the  acquisition  of  these  articles 
of  Indian  make,  and  so  was  the  barkeeper  of  the  boat, 
who  acquired  a  general  assortment  to  take  back  with 
him  to  St.  Louis. 

The  Indians  along  the  upper  Missouri  were  not  then 
confined  to  reservations  and,  in  fact,  roamed  unrestrained 
from  the  Platte  to  the  North  far  beyond  our  boundary 
into  the  British  possessions,  and  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  crest  of  the  Bocky  Mountains,  subsisting  mainly  up- 
on the  flesh  of  the  buffalo. 

The  long  twilight  of  this  high  latitude  enabled  the 
boat  to  run  in  clear  weather  almost  if  not  quite  as  late 
as  10  o'clock,  and  little  time  was  lost  by  darkness,  and 
we  were  also  favored  with  several  magnificent  displays 
of  the  Aurora  Borealis,  exceedingly  brilliant,  lighting 
the  entire  northern  half  of  the  sky  for  hours  at  a  time. 

On  reaching  the   spurs  or  detached  ranges   of   the 


92  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

mountains  that  appear  on  either  side  of  the  river,  nav- 
igation was  rendered  more  difficult  by  the  shoals  and 
rapids  over  which  the  boat  could  hardly  have  passed 
but  from  the  fact  that  she  had  been  lightened  by  the 
discharge  of  the  greater  part  of  her  cargo,  at  points 
below. 

In  the  latter  part  of  June  we  landed  at  Fort  Benton, 
the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Missouri,  where  the  boat 
remained  several  days. 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  93 


CHAPTEK  IH. 

Fort  Benton  was  established  by  the  American  Fur 
Company,  I  think  in  the  year  1832.  That  same  year  the 
first  steamboat  ascended  the  river  to  that  locality,  owned 
by  the  company.  When  we  reached  the  fort  it  was  in 
charge  of  Alexander  Culbertson,  a  prominent  employee 
of  the  fur  company.  Fifty-four  years  before  this  it  took 
Lewis  and  Clark  nearly  a  year  to  make  the  journey  from 
St.  Louis  to  the  Great  Falls,  thirty  miles  above  Port 
Benton. 

The  remainder  of  the  boat's  cargo,  including  the 
work  oxen,  plows,  harrows,  etc.,  intended  for  the  Black- 
foot  Agency,  was  unloaded  and  the  merchandise  piled 
up  on  the  river  bank,  a  paxt  being  stored  in  the  fort, 
while  arrangements  were  being  made  by  Colonel  Vaughn 
for  transportation  to  the  Blackfoot  Agency,  on  Sun 
Eiver,  the  supervision  of  which  kept  the  colonel  very 
busy  for  several  days. 

The  long  voyage  up  the  Missouri,  together  with  my 
experience  and  observation,  gathered  along  the  way, 
had  convinced  me  that  I  would  not  enjoy  spending  the 
whole  winter  at  the  Blackfoot  Agency,  so  I  determined 
to  return  on  the  boat. 

Mr.  Lace,  who  had  come  up  with  the  intention  of 
going  out  to  the  mountains,  was  so  discouraged  with  the 


94  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

prospects  of  hunting  under  existing  conditions,  that  he 
also  resolved  to  return  on  the  boat.  There  was  no  way 
of  his  getting  back  to  the  States  at  a  later  date  in  that 
year,  except  to  float  down  the  river,  a  mode  of  traveling 
that  had  no  attractions  for  him.  Mr.  Holbrook,  the 
young  Harvard  graduate,  who  was  traveling  merely  for 
recreation  and  health,  had  no  intention  of  remaining, 
so  the  boat  was  not  entirely  bereft  of  passengers. 

On  meeting  Colonel  Vaughn  seven  years  afterwards, 
when  he  was  living  on  a  ranch  not  far  from  Helena, 
Montana,  he  told  me  of  his  distressing  experience  and 
narrow  escape  from  death  he  had  encountered  in  a  bliz- 
zard during  the  winter  of  1858-9.  While  hibernating 
quietly  and  comfortably  at  the  Sun  Eiver  Agency,  a 
courier  or  vo vaguer,  arrived  from  Fort  Benton,  bring- 
ing the  intelligence  that  a  band  of  Indians  from  over 
on  the  Marias  Eiver  had  come  in  to  Fort  Benton,  who 
were  in  a  state  of  destitution  and  threatened  starvation, 
and  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  visit 
the  fort  and  have  rations  issued  to  them  or  they  would 
starve.  He  at  once  made  preparations  and  started  on 
horseback,  accompanied  by  his  interpreter,  a  Canadian 
Frenchman,  long  a  resident  of  the  Indian  country.  They 
started  on  a  morning  in  February  when  the  weather 
was  clear  and  pleasant,  with  but  little  snow  lying  on 
the  ground,  not  enough  to  hide  the  roadway  or  render 
riding  difficult. 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  95 

At  midday  the  sky  became  overcast,  the  clouds 
sweeping  down  from  the  north,  and  they  were  soon 
enveloped  by  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  driven  and  whirled 
about  by  a  terrific  wind,  in  fact,  the  worst  kind  of  a 
blizzard.  The  path  was  soon  covered  and  the  snow  so 
dense  and  drifting  rapidly  soon  rendered  progress  slow 
and  difficult,  the  ravines  being  filled  with  snow  when  this 
blizzard  began.  Both  Colonel  Vaughn  and  the  inter- 
preter were  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  roujte,  but 
they  lost  their  reckoning  even  before  they  were  over- 
taken by  darkness.  The  blizzard  continued  unabated 
during  that  night  and  all  the  following  day,  and  all  this 
time  they  wandered  about  completely  bewildered  by 
dense  snow  and  severe  cold.  At  last,  during  the  second 
night,  they  were  apprised  of  their  locality  from  the 
sound  of  the  Great  Falls  of  the  Missouri,  and  were  farth- 
er from  Fort  Benton  than  when  the  snow  first  struck 
them.  By  this  time,  both  men  and  horses  were  nearly 
worn  out  and  benumbed  with  cold.  When  within  hear- 
ing of  the  falls  they  stopped  under  an  overhanging  rock 
which  sheltered  them  ifrom  'thje  snow  and  wind,  but 
drowsiness  set  in,  the  certain  precursor  of  death  under 
such  circumstances,  so  they  rode  out  again  into  the 
storm,  the  colonel  taking  the  lead,  and  kept  their  horses 
moving.  Calling  to  the  interpreter  he  answered  not, 
and  after  this  the  colonel  himself  lost  consciousness, 
and  while  he  retained  his  seat  in  the  saddle,  he  ceased 


96  Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Betraveled. 

to  exercise  any  control  over  the  horse,  and  the  horse 
left  to  his  own  guidance,  carried  the  colonel  back  to 
the  agency,  reaching  there  after  daylight,  the  morning 
of  the  third  day,  with  him  almost  dead. 

The  men  at  the  agency  went  out,  lifted  him  down, 
carried  him  into  the  house  and  proceeded  to  restore 
him  to  life  again,  eventually  their  efforts  proving  suc- 
cessful. 

The  horse  of  the  interpreter  arrived  at  the  agency 
before  the  colonel,  and  when  the  colonel  had  so  far  re- 
gained his  faculties  as  to  be  able  to  talk,  he  told  them 
where  he  had  last  seen  the  interpreter  near  the  Great 
Falls.  Some  Indians  put  off  in  search  of  him,  and  his 
body  was  recovered  by  them,  found  sitting  erect  in  the 
snow,  frozen  solidly — almost  as  solid  as  the  granite  boul- 
ders surrounding  it. 

The  stage  of  water  being  good,  the  boat  descended 
the  river  rapidly,  running  twenty  miles  an  hour  and 
making  few  landings. 

At  the  Eee  village  below  the  mouth  of  the  Yellow- 
stone, a  stop  was  made  to  take  on  a  large  stock  of  buf- 
falo robes,  a  half  day  being  required  to  load  them,  and 
in  order  to  hasten  the  work,  twenty  or  thirty  squaws 
were  hired  to  aid  in  transferring  the  bales  of  robes 
from  a  warehouse  on  a  hill,  two  hundred  yards  perhaps 
from  the  river  bank,  to  the  boat.  These  squaws,  al- 
though of  comparatively  small  stature,  to  the  bucks, 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Eetraveled.  97 

would  shoulder  up  or  put  on  top  of  their  heads  a  bale 
of  robes,  and  walk  with  it,  apparently,  with  ease,  laugh- 
ing and  chattering  with  their  companions  as  they  went. 
All  the  while  the  bucks  were  sitting  or  standing  around, 
smoking  their  pipes,  looking  on  with  composure  and  sat- 
isfaction. It  did  not  comport  with  their  notions  of  dig- 
nity and  propriety  to  engage  in  any  such  ignoble  work 
themselves,  in  fact  the  Indian  bucks  have  never  yet 
been  able  to  appreciate  the  "nobility"  of  labor. 

Somewhere  about  Fort  Pierre,  while  the  boat  was 
running,  four  buffalo  bulls  were  seen  grazing  quietly  in 
the  bottoms  some  distance  from  the  river  bank.  The 
captain  gave  orders  for  landing  the  boat  immediately. 
Tied  up  to  the  guards  on  the  lower  deck  were  a  couple 
of  Indian  ponies  being  sent  down  to  some  point  below, 
as  a  present  from  some  chief,  to  his  friends  or  relations 
(giving  presents  being  a  very  general  custom  among 
them),  and  as  was  stated  when  the  horses  were  brought 
on  board,  the  horses  were  extra  good  buffalo  horses,  fleet 
of  foot  and  trained  to  the  chase. 

Among  the  passengers  at  that  time  was  a  solitary 
Sioux  warrior,  going  down  on  a  visit,  as  he  said.  He 
had  been  with  us  for  a  day  or  two,  and  it  had  been  whis- 
pered around  that  he  was  a  bad  character  where  he  be- 
longed. He  was  athletic  and  devilish-looking,  but  there 
was  little  about  his  person  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
general  run  of  Indian  bucks  and  warriors.  He  had  an 


98  Leivis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled. 

ordinary  bow  and  quiver  of  arrows  slung  over  his  back. 

The  captain  ordered  one  of  the  horses  brought  for- 
ward quickly,  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  dozen  deck  hands, 
the  horse  was  put  ashore.  Just  as  soon  as  the  buffalo 
were  seen  this  Indian  volunteered  with  great  alacrity 
to  go  after  them,  and  as  yet  they  were  grazing  undis- 
turbed. 

Having  had  experience  in  killing  buffalo  on  horse- 
back the  previous  year,  on  the  Santa  Fe  Trail,  I  sug- 
gested the  propriety  of  giving  the  Indian  a  pair  of  Colt's 
navy  revolvers,  which  I  had  used  effectively,  but  he  de- 
clined them,  signifying  by  signs  that  his  bow  and  arrow 
would  answer  the  purpose  better  than  the  pistols,  and 
we  soon  discovered  that  he  was  a  skillful  buffalo  hunter. 
The  moment  the  horse  was  on  the  river  bank  he  mounted 
him,  bareback,  without  any  trappings  whatever  save  a 
short  piece  of  rope  tied  around  the  horse's  neck.  We 
stood  on  the  hurricane  deck  looking  on,  and  it  imme- 
diately became  apparent  to  us  that  the  Indian  well  un- 
derstood the  business  at  hand,  needing  no  instructions 
whatever  from  us.  The  horse  at  once  showed  speed  and 
activity,  the  Indian,  expertness  in  riding  him,  swaying 
and  guiding  him  without  even  using  the  rope,  galloping 
off,  not  towards  the  buffalo,  but  down  the  river  bank, 
to  a  point  where  he  had  the  wind  of  the  game,  fhen 
turning  towards  them,  he  got  right  up  on  them  almost 
before  they  started.  In  a  moment  he  was  abreast  of 


Lewis  and  Clark's  Route  Retraveled.  99 

one  of  them  and  sent  an  arrow  into  its  side  half  its 
length.  Then  the  horse,  it  seemed,  of  his  own  will  fell 
back  to  the  rear,  then  sprang  forward  on  the  opposite 
side  when  a  second  arrow  was  shot  into  the  buffalo  deep 
enough  to  produce  inward  bleeding.  The  animal  being 
mortally  wounded  ran  only  a  half-mile  when  tumbled 
down  to  die.  We  had  an  unobstructed  view  of  the 
whole  proceeding  from  the  hurricane  deck  of  the  boat. 
A  striking  performance,  demonstrating  the  prowess  of 
the  Indian.  The  buffalo  was  butchered  and  brought  on 
board,  furnishing  fresh  meat  for  several  days. 


